'shrimp' originates from Old English, specifically the word 'scrimpa', where the root may have meant 'small' or been connected to a notion of 'shrinking' (related to Proto-Germanic *skrimp-).

'shrimp' changed from the Old English word 'scrimpa' to Middle English 'shrimp(e)' and eventually became the modern English word 'shrimp'.

Initially, it referred to a 'small person' or 'dwarflike person' and later shifted to mean a 'small crustacean' (and by extension the seafood).