shrew

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
shrew/ʃruː/

▶noun

• 1 a small mouse-like insectivorous mammal with a long pointed snout and tiny eyes. [Family Soricidae: many species.]

• 2 a bad-tempered or aggressively assertive woman.

– derivatives
shrewish adjective,
shrewishly adverb,
shrewishness noun.

– origin OE scrēawa, scrǣwa, of Gmc origin; cf. shrewd.