1 Definition
Clever at sizing up people and situations, and quick to use that insight to your own advantage.
2 In Use
She was a shrewd negotiator who noticed what the other side wanted long before they said it aloud.
3 Word Origin
scrēawa O.E. · shrew mouse → shrewe M.E. · wicked person → shrewd Middle English
Shrewd grew from the same Germanic root as the small, sharp-snouted shrew, an animal long regarded with suspicion. In Middle English, a shrewe was a wicked or scolding person, and the adjective shrewed first meant malicious or cursed. Over the following centuries the sting faded and the sense of cunning remained, until shrewd became a mark of admirable, practical judgment rather than bad character.
💡Fun Fact
A cousin of this word, beshrew, was once a mild oath meaning roughly "curse upon" someone, and Shakespeare's characters use it freely. It could be hurled at a person or tossed off playfully when something went wrong. Shrew itself lives on in the title The Taming of the Shrew, where it labels a sharp-tongued woman. Few modern compliments have such a rough family tree, which makes it a nice reminder that praise and suspicion often sit close together.