A prawn is a small sea creature that looks like a shrimp but is often larger, with a slightly different body structure. Prawns have ten legs, long antennae, and a curved body protected by a hard shell. Like shrimp, they swim backward by rapidly flexing their tails.

People around the world eat prawns as food, often grilling, frying, or boiling them. In many places, especially Britain and Australia, people use “prawn” to describe what Americans typically call large shrimp, though scientists classify true prawns and shrimp as different kinds of crustaceans. Prawns live in both saltwater and freshwater, hiding among rocks and plants during the day and coming out at night to search for food.

You might hear the Australian expression “Don't come the raw prawn with me,” which means “Don't try to fool me” or “Don't play dumb.” The phrase suggests someone is pretending to be as helpless as a raw prawn, even though they know exactly what they're doing.