What's the difference between a prawn and a shrimp?

Answer 1

As used in commercial farming and fishery, the terms shrimp and prawns are generally used interchangeably. In European countries, particularly the United Kingdom, the word "prawns" is more commonly on menus than the term "shrimp", which is used more often in the United States. Australia follows this European/British use to an even greater extent, using the word "prawn" almost exclusively. (Paul Hogan's use of the phrase "I'll slip an extra shrimp on the barbie for you" in a television advertisement was intended to make what he was saying easier for his American audience to understand, and was thus a deliberate distortion of what an Australian would typically say.)

Answer 2

The name "prawn" is often mis-applied, most often to shrimp, generally the larger species, such as Leander serratus; in the United States, according to the 1911 Encyclopedia, the word "prawn" usually indicates a freshwater shrimp or prawn. In Middle English, the word "prawn" is recorded as prayne or prane; no cognate form can be found in any other language. It has often been connected to the Latin perna, a ham-shaped shellfish, but this is due to an old scholarly error that connected perna and parnocchie with prawne-fishes or shrimps. In fact, the Old Italian perna and pernocchia meant a shellfish that yielded nacre, or mother-of-pearl.

As used in commercial farming and fishery, the terms shrimp and prawns are generally used interchangeably. In European countries, particularly the United Kingdom, the word "prawns" is more commonly on menus than the term "shrimp", which is used more often in the United States. Australia follows this European/British use to an even greater extent, using the word "prawn" almost exclusively. (Paul Hogan's use of the phrase "I'll slip an extra shrimp on the barbie for you" in a television advertisement was intended to make what he was saying easier for his American audience to understand, and was thus a deliberate distortion of what an Australian would typically say.

Answer 3

Prawns are from Australia. Shrimp are from America.

Answer 4

prawn is Italian for shrimp so technically they are the same things but in America generally prawns are refereed to shrimp that are whole with the head on and generally a little larger than say salad shrimp

Answer 5

I have been trying to figure that one out ever since I moved out to California from the east coast. From what I understand, prawns are the same as shrimp (at least that's what everybody here in the SF Bay Area tells me).

Back east, we had "bay shrimp" (the little cocktail shrimpies) & "Gulf shrimp" (the big fat shrimp).

I'm not particularly fond of calling shrimp "prawns." It just sounds weird to me.

Answer 6

prawns are HUGE shrimps. shrimps are just used for cocktails and belong on Long John Sliver's menu than prawns.

Answer 7

A prawn is a chess piece.

A shrimp is the smallest kid in school that gets picked on....

Answer 8

prawns and shrimp are the same basically.Only prawns are larger than shrimp.

Answer 9

Prawns have a more fishy taste.

Answer 10

I think it's just a terminology thing, and they mean the same thing. I think people say prawn to sound a bit more sophisticated.