Considered by some authorities to be a subspecies of the Peters's musk shrew, it is now recognised as a separate species, with a diploid chromosome number of 2n = 52.

[2] This is one of three species of small mammals named by the British zoologist Oldfield Thomas in honour of anthropologist Hildegarde Beatrice Hinde.

[3] Hildegarde's shrew is a moderate-sized species with a head-and-body length of about 70 mm (2.8 in), males being slightly larger than females.

The hairs on the back, which are longer on the rump than elsewhere, are mid-brown with darker tips, giving an overall pelage the colour of milk chocolate.

The predators of this shrew include small carnivorous mammals and the viper Atheris nitschei.