Inventors get a lot of love. Thomas Edison is held up as a tinkering genius. Steve Jobs is considered a saint in Silicon Valley. Hedy Lamar, meanwhile, may have been a Hollywood star but a new book makes clear her real legacy is in inventing the foundations of encryption. But while all these people invented things, it’s possible to invent something even more fundamental. Take Shakespeare: he invented words. And he invented more words—words that continue to shape the English language—than anyone else. By a long shot.
But what does it mean to “invent” words? How many words did Shakespeare invent? What kind of words? And which words are those exactly? Rather than just listing all the words Shakespeare invented, this post digs deeper into the how and the why (or “wherefore”) of Shakespeare’s literary creations.
How Many Words Did Shakespeare Invent?
1700! My, what a perfectly round number! Such a large and perfectly round number is misleading at best, and is more likely just wrong—there is in fact a bunch of debate about the accuracy of this number.
So who’s to blame for the uncertainty around the number of words Shakespeare invented? For starters, we can blame the Oxford English Dictionary. This famous dictionary (often called the OED for short) is famous, in part, because it provides incredibly thorough definitions of words, but also because it identifies the first time each word actually appeared in written English. Shakespeare appears as the first documented user of more words than any other writer, making it convenient to assume that he was the creator of all of those words.
In reality, though, many of these words were probably part of everyday discourse in Elizabethan England. So it’s highly likely that Shakespeare didn’t invent all of these words; he just produced the first preserved record of some of them. Ryan Buda, a writer at Letterpile, explains it like this:
But most likely, the word was in use for some time before it is seen in the writings of Shakespeare. The fact that the word first appears there does not necessarily mean that he made it up himself, but rather, he could have borrowed it from his peers or from conversations he had with others.
However, while Shakespeare might have been just the first person to write down some words, he definitely did create many words himself, plenty of which we still use to this day. The list a ways down below contains the 420 words that almost certainly originated from Shakespeare himself.
But all this leads to another question. What does it even mean to “invent” a word?
How Did Shakespeare Invent Words?
Some writers invent words in the same way Thomas Edison invented light bulbs: they cobble together bits of sound and create entirely new words without any meaning or relation to existing words. Lewis Carroll does in the first stanza of his “Jabberwocky” poem:
`Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.
Carroll totally made up words like “brillig,” “slithy,” “toves,” and “mimsy”; the first stanza alone contains 11 of these made-up words, which are known as nonce words. Words like these aren’t just meaningless, they’re also disposable, intended to be used just once.
Shakespeare did not create nonce words. He took an entirely different approach. When he invented words, he did it by working with existing words and altering them in new ways. More specifically, he would create new words by:
- Conjoining two words
- Changing verbs into adjectives
- Changing nouns into verbs
- Adding prefixes to words
- Adding suffixes to words
The most exhaustive take on Shakespeare’s invented words comes from a nice little 874-page book entitled The Shakespeare Key by Charles and Mary Cowden Clarke. Here’s how they explain Shakespeare’s literary innovations:
Shakespeare, with the right and might of a true poet, and with his peculiar royal privilege as king of all poets, has minted several words that deserve to become current in our language. He coined them for his own special use to express his own special meanings in his own special passages; but they are so expressive and so well framed to be exponents of certain particulars in meanings common to us all, that they deserve to become generally adopted and used.
We can call what Shakespeare did to create new words “minting,” “coining” or “inventing.” Whatever term we use to describe it, Shakespeare was doing things with words that no one had ever thought to do before, and that’s what matters.
Shakespeare Didn’t Invent Nonsense Words
Though today readers often need the help of modern English translations to fully grasp the nuance and meaning of Shakespeare’s language, Shakespeare’s contemporary audience would have had a much easier go of it. Why? Two main reasons.
First, Shakespeare was part of a movement in English literature that introduced more prose into plays. (Earlier plays were written primarily in rhyming verse.) Shakespeare’s prose was similar to the style and cadence of everyday conversation in Elizabethan England, making it natural for members of his audience to understand.
In addition, the words he created were comprehensible intuitively because, once again, they were often built on the foundations of already existing words, and were not just unintelligible combinations of sound. Take “congreeted” for example. The prefix “con” means with, and “greet” means to receive or acknowledge someone.
It therefore wasn’t a huge stretch for people to understand this line:
That, face to face and royal eye to eye.
You have congreeted.(Henry V, Act 5, Scene 2)
Shakespeare also made nouns into verbs. He was the first person to use friend as a verb, predating Mark Zuckerberg by about 395 years.
And what so poor a man as Hamlet is
May do, to express his love and friending to you(Hamlet, Act 1, Scene 5)
Other times, despite his proclivity for making compound words, Shakespeare reached into his vast Latin vocabulary for loanwords.
His heart fracted and corroborate.
(Henry V, Act 2, Scene 1)
Here the Latin word fractus means “broken.” Take away the –us and add in the English suffix –ed, and a new English word is born.
New Words Are Nothing New
Shakespeare certainly wasn’t the first person to make up words. It’s actually entirely commonplace for new words to enter a language. We’re adding new words and terms to our “official” dictionaries every year. In the past few years, the Merriam-Webster dictionary has added several new words and phrases, like these:
- bokeh
- elderflower
- fast fashion
- first world problem
- ginger
- microaggression
- mumblecore
- pareidolia
- ping
- safe space
- wayback
- wayback machine
- woo-woo
So inventing words wasn’t something unique to Shakespeare or Elizabethan England. It’s still going on all the time.
But Shakespeare Invented a Lot of New Words
So why did Shakespeare have to make up hundreds of new words? For starters, English was smaller in Shakespeare’s time. The language contained many fewer words, and not enough for a literary genius like Shakespeare. How many words? No one can be sure. One estimates, one from Encyclopedia Americana, puts the number at 50,000-60,000, likely not including medical and scientific terms.
During Shakespeare’s time, the number of words in the language began to grow. Edmund Weiner, deputy chief editor of the Oxford English Dictionary, explains it this way:
The vocabulary of English expanded greatly during the early modern period. Writers were well aware of this and argued about it. Some were in favour of loanwords to express new concepts, especially from Latin. Others advocated the use of existing English words, or new compounds of them, for this purpose. Others advocated the revival of obsolete words and the adoption of regional dialect.
In Shakespeare’s collected writings, he used a total of 31,534 different words. Whatever the size of the English lexicon at the time, Shakespeare was in command of a substantial portion of it. Jason Kottke estimates that Shakespeare knew around 66,534 words, which suggests Shakespeare was pushing the boundaries of English vocab as he knew it. He had to make up some new words.
The Complete List of Words Shakespeare Invented
Compiling a definitive list of every word that Shakespeare ever invented is impossible. But creating a list of the words that Shakespeare almost certainly invented can be done. We generated list of words below by starting with the words that Shakespeare was the first to use in written language, and then applying research that has identified which words were probably in everyday use during Shakespeare’s time. The result are 420 bona fide words minted, coined, and invented by Shakespeare, from “academe” to “zany”:
- academe
- accessible
- accommodation
- addiction
- admirable
- aerial
- airless
- amazement
- anchovy
- arch-villain
- auspicious
- bacheolorship
- barefaced
- baseless
- batty
- beachy
- bedroom
- belongings
- birthplace
- black-faced
- bloodstained
- bloodsucking
- blusterer
- bodikins
- braggartism
- brisky
- broomstaff
- budger
- bump
- buzzer
- candle holder
- catlike
- characterless
- cheap
- chimney-top
- chopped
- churchlike
- circumstantial
- clangor
- cold-blooded
- coldhearted
- compact
- consanguineous
- control
- coppernose
- countless
- courtship
- critical
- cruelhearted
- Dalmatian
- dauntless
- dawn
- day’s work
- deaths-head
- defeat
- depositary
- dewdrop
- dexterously
- disgraceful
- distasteful
- distrustful
- dog-weary
- doit (a Dutch coin: ‘a pittance’)
- domineering
- downstairs
- dwindle
- East Indies
- embrace
- employer
- employment
- enfranchisement
- engagement
- enrapt
- epileptic
- equivocal
- eventful
- excitement
- expedience
- expertness
- exposure
- eyedrop
- eyewink
- fair-faced
- fairyland
- fanged
- fap
- far-off
- farmhouse
- fashionable
- fashionmonger
- fat-witted
- fathomless
- featureless
- fiendlike
- fitful
- fixture
- fleshment
- flirt-gill
- flowery
- fly-bitten
- footfall
- foppish
- foregone
- fortune-teller
- foul mouthed
- Franciscan
- freezing
- fretful
- full-grown
- fullhearted
- futurity
- gallantry
- garden house
- generous
- gentlefolk
- glow
- go-between
- grass plot
- gravel-blind
- gray-eyed
- green-eyed
- grief-shot
- grime
- gust
- half-blooded
- heartsore
- hedge-pig
- hell-born
- hint
- hobnail
- homely
- honey-tongued
- hornbook
- hostile
- hot-blooded
- howl
- hunchbacked
- hurly
- idle-headed
- ill-tempered
- ill-used
- impartial
- imploratory
- import
- in question
- inauspicious
- indirection
- indistinguishable
- inducement
- informal
- inventorially
- investment
- invitation
- invulnerable
- jaded
- juiced
- keech
- kickie-wickie
- kitchen-wench
- lackluster
- ladybird
- lament
- land-rat
- laughable
- leaky
- leapfrog
- lewdster
- loggerhead
- lonely
- long-legged
- love letter
- lustihood
- lustrous
- madcap
- madwoman
- majestic
- malignancy
- manager
- marketable
- marriage bed
- militarist
- mimic
- misgiving
- misquote
- mockable
- money’s worth
- monumental
- moonbeam
- mortifying
- motionless
- mountaineer
- multitudinous
- neglect
- never-ending
- newsmonger
- nimble-footed
- noiseless
- nook-shotten
- obscene
- ode
- offenseful
- offenseless
- Olympian
- on purpose
- oppugnancy
- outbreak
- overblown
- overcredulous
- overgrowth
- overview
- pageantry
- pale-faced
- passado
- paternal
- pebbled
- pedant
- pedantical
- pendulous
- pignut
- pious
- please-man
- plumpy
- posture
- prayerbook
- priceless
- profitless
- Promethean
- protester
- published
- puking (disputed)
- puppy-dog
- pushpin
- quarrelsome
- radiance
- rascally
- rawboned
- reclusive
- refractory
- reinforcement
- reliance
- remorseless
- reprieve
- resolve
- restoration
- restraint
- retirement
- revokement
- revolting
- ring carrier
- roadway
- roguery
- rose-cheeked
- rose-lipped
- rumination
- ruttish
- sanctimonious
- satisfying
- savage
- savagery
- schoolboy
- scrimer
- scrubbed
- scuffle
- seamy
- self-abuse
- shipwrecked
- shooting star
- shudder
- silk stocking
- silliness
- skim milk
- skimble-skamble
- slugabed
- soft-hearted
- spectacled
- spilth
- spleenful
- sportive
- stealthy
- stillborn
- successful
- suffocating
- tanling
- tardiness
- time-honored
- title page
- to arouse
- to barber
- to bedabble
- to belly
- to besmirch
- to bet
- to bethump
- to blanket
- to cake
- to canopy
- to castigate
- to cater
- to champion
- to comply
- to compromise
- to cow
- to cudgel
- to dapple
- to denote
- to dishearten
- to dislocate
- to educate
- to elbow
- to enmesh
- to enthrone
- to fishify
- to glutton
- to gnarl
- to gossip
- to grovel
- to happy
- to hinge
- to humor
- to impede
- to inhearse
- to inlay
- to instate
- to lapse
- to muddy
- to negotiate
- to numb
- to offcap
- to operate
- to out-Herod
- to out-talk
- to out-villain
- to outdare
- to outfrown
- to outscold
- to outsell
- to outweigh
- to overpay
- to overpower
- to overrate
- to palate
- to pander
- to perplex
- to petition
- to rant
- to reverb
- to reword
- to rival
- to sate
- to secure
- to sire
- to sneak
- to squabble
- to subcontract
- to sully
- to supervise
- to swagger
- to torture
- to un muzzle
- to unbosom
- to uncurl
- to undervalue
- to undress
- to unfool
- to unhappy
- to unsex
- to widen
- tortive
- traditional
- tranquil
- transcendence
- trippingly
- unaccommodated
- unappeased
- unchanging
- unclaimed
- unearthy
- uneducated
- unfrequented
- ungoverned
- ungrown
- unhelpful
- unhidden
- unlicensed
- unmitigated
- unmusical
- unpolluted
- unpublished
- unquestionable
- unquestioned
- unreal
- unrivaled
- unscarred
- unscratched
- unsolicited
- unsullied
- unswayed
- untutored
- unvarnished
- unwillingness
- upstairs
- useful
- useless
- valueless
- varied
- varletry
- vasty
- vulnerable
- watchdog
- water drop
- water fly
- well-behaved
- well-bred
- well-educated
- well-read
- wittolly
- worn out
- wry-necked
- yelping
- zany
Words That Shakespeare Invented – Resource List
- 10 Words Shakespeare Never Invented – Merriam-Webster does a great job dismantling myths. This article, in particular, tells you which words Shakespeare probably didn’t invent.
- 40 Words You Can Trace Back To William Shakespeare – Buzzfeed disregards the “never invented” words from Merriam, but does add a disclaimer: “That doesn’t necessarily mean he invented every word.”
- Invented Words – This page was the center of a disputatious brouhaha with the aforementioned Buzzfeed. As it stands, however, Google likes to deliver this as a top result when you search for “Words Shakespeare Invented.”
- 20 Words We Owe to Shakespeare – I like the way that the author of this article draws a parallel between Shakespeare and the LOL generation.
- Words and Phrases Coined by Shakespeare – This is a lengthy and straightforward list that mostly contains phrases rather than individual words.
- 21 everyday phrases that come straight from Shakespeare’s plays – This is a helpful resource due to the explanation of each phrase.
Words, words, words.
(Hamlet Act 2, Scene 2)
Want to know all about the words Shakespeare invented? We’ve got you covered.
In all of his works – the plays, the sonnets and the narrative poems – Shakespeare uses 17,677 different words.
How Many Words Did Shakespeare Invent?
Across all of his written works, it’s estimated that words invented by Shakespeare number as many as 1,700. We say these are words invented by Shakespeare , though in reality many of these 1,700 words would likely have been in common use during the Elizabethan and Jacobean era, just not written down prior to Shakespeare using them in his plays, sonnets and poems. In these cases Shakespeare would have been the first known person to document these words in writing.
Historian Jonathan Hope also points out that Victorian scholars who read texts for the first edition of the Oxford English Dictionary read Shakespeare’s texts more thoroughly than most, and cited him more often, meaning Shakespeare is often credited with the first use of words which can be found in other writers.
Examples Of Commonly Used Words Shakespeare Created
It is Shakespeare who is credited with creating the below list of words that we still use in our daily speech – some of them frequently.
accommodation
aerial
amazement
apostrophe
assassination
auspicious
baseless
bloody
bump
castigate
changeful
clangor
control (noun)
countless
courtship
critic
critical
dexterously
dishearten
dislocate
dwindle
eventful
exposure
fitful
frugal
generous
gloomy
gnarled
hurry
impartial
inauspicious
indistinguishable
invulnerable
lapse
laughable
lonely
majestic
misplaced
monumental
multitudinous
obscene
palmy
perusal
pious
premeditated
radiance
reliance
road
sanctimonious
seamy
sportive
submerge
suspicious
Along with these everyday words invented by Shakespeare, he also created a number of words in his plays that never quite caught on in the same way… Shakespearean words like ‘Armgaunt’, ‘Eftes’, ‘Impeticos’, ‘Insisture’, ‘Pajock’, ‘Pioned’ ‘Ribaudred’ and ‘Wappened’. We do have some ideas as to what these words may mean, though much is guesswork. Watch the video below for more insight into words Shakespeare invented that have been lost in the mists of time:
And it wasn’t just words that Shakespeare created, documented, or brought into common usage – he also put words together and created a host of new phrases. Read all about the phrases that Shakespeare invented here. And see our complete Shakespeare dictionary, which lists hundreds of commonly used Shakespeare’s words that arent; so common today, along with a simple definition.
Shakespeare words – see handwritten phrases and words Shakespeare invented
We all know the extraordinary contribution done by William Shakespeare to the English Language. But do you have any idea about the words Shakespeare invented? Shakespeare is a renowned literary writer who has played a vital role in the advancement of Jargon. He has concocted words by changing regular words into things, action words, or modifiers. Even some of the words Shakespeare invented have either prefixes or additions. Several researchers and literary analysts have found nearly 1700 new words and phrases in the writings of William Shakespeare.
Here, in this blog post, let us take a look at a list of 100+ interesting words and phrases invented by Shakespeare in the English Language along with their meanings.
William Shakespeare- A Word Inventor
William Shakespeare may have designed many great words, nonetheless, some contended that a portion of these words probably won’t have been created by him. Rather, this rundown of Shakespeare jargon was in reality initially composed on his works. Most researchers contended that these words which are credited to Shakespeare may have spoken first. This controversial topic might be a good thought for a proposal. Our proposition writers can help you handle it. Do you realize what words did Shakespeare design? Here, we will give you a portion of these words with their related implications.
List of Words Shakespeare Invented and their Meanings
Here are some words concocted by Shakespeare. If you’d prefer to improve your writing aptitudes, we encourage you to learn and utilize them. Each word has its comparing meaning. These words Shakespeare made has utilized in one of his plays:
Accommodation
It implies transformation, alteration, or bargain. Utilized in “Measure for Measure” – “For all the accommodations that thou bear’st Are breastfed by evil.”
Addiction
It means fixation or reliance. This is a typical word that is generally utilized in superstar news. Notwithstanding, it was first utilized in “Othello” – “what game and delights his addiction drives him”
Agile
It implies equipped for moving quickly or without any problem. Can be found in “Romeo and Juliet” – “His agile arm thumps their lethal focuses.”
Allurement
It alludes to allurement, allure, or fascination. It has utilized in “All’s Well That Ends Well” – “one Diana, to notice the allurement of one Count Rousillon”.
Antipathy
This is one of the words authored by Shakespeare that way to abhor or detest. Utilized in “Ruler Lear” – “No contraries hold more antipathy Than I”.
Arch-scalawag
By including the prefix “curve “: Shakespeare made this word that implies an exceptionally mean individual. He utilized this in “Timon of Athens” – “yet a curve lowlife stays with him”.
Assassination
This term has utilized to depict a brutal homicide or slaughtering. It was seen in “Macbeth” – “if the death could hamper up the outcome”.
Bedazzled
This word was first used to depict the sparkle of daylight. But by and by it has been utilized for marketing rhinestone-adorned pants. Has utilized in “The Taming of the Shrew” – “my mixing up eyes, that have been so bedazzled with the sun”.
Belongings
It alludes to assets or properties. This is one of the words made by Shakespeare that can be found in “Measure for Measure”.
Catastrophe
It alludes to catastrophe or the stupendous occasion that started the result of the story. You can peruse this in “Ruler Lear” – “he comes, similar to the disaster of the old parody.”
Cold-blooded
It is regularly this word has utilized to portray chronic executioners and vampires. But it was first utilized in “Ruler John” – “Thou cold-blooded slave, hast thou not talked”.
Critical
It is significant or inclined to analyze. It has been utilized in “Othello” – “For I am nothing, if not critical.”
Demonstrate
To show, show, or present something. Likewise utilized in “Othello” – “this may help to thicken different pieces of evidence That do exhibit meagerly.”
Dexterously
Dexterously made or finished with precision. Can be found in “Twelfth Night” – “Dexterously, great madonna.”
Dire
It implies awful, hopeless, or unpropitious. Utilized in “Satire of Errors” – “To tolerate the furthest point of dire disaster!”
Dishearten
It intends to baffle or disappoint. The inverse or hearten is first utilized in “Henry V” – in case he, by demonstrating it, ought to dishearten his military”
Dislocate
It intends to make it strange. This is appeared in “Lord Lear” – “to dislocate and tear Thy fragile living creature and bones.”
Emphasis
It implies focusing on something or making it noticeable. Can be found in “Antony and Cleopatra” – “Be stifled with such another emphasis!”
Eventful
It is utilized to portray a pivotal or exciting second. It was communicated in “As You Like It” – “that closes this bizarre significant history”
Eyeballs
It is another word for the eyes. Utilized in “As You Like It” – “Your trumpet eyeballs, nor your cheek of cream,”
Emulate
It intends to duplicate or mimic something. Can be perused in “Joyful Wives of Windsor” – “I perceive how tiny eye would emulate the jewel”.
Exist
It intends to acquire a reality. Utilized in “Ruler Lear” – “From whom we do exist and stop to be;”
It intends to pull back, kill, draw out. This has portrayed in “Henry V” – “Could out of thee extract one flash of fiendishness”.
Fashionable
It implies classy or stylish. Hundreds of years back it has been utilized in “Troilus and Cressida” – “For time resembles a chic host”.
Frugal
It alludes to an individual who is prudent, thrifty, miserly. It has been utilized in “Cheerful Wives of Windsor” – “I was then frugal of my jollity”.
Half-blooded
It is having a relationship with one parent in particular. First utilized in “Ruler Lear” – “Half-blooded individual, yes.”
Hot-blooded
It is being energetic or demonstrating outrageous emotions. Additionally utilized in “Ruler Lear” – “hot-blooded France, that dowerless took our most youthful conceived”.
Hereditary
It is something that you have acquired, innate. This is clear in “Antony and Cleopatra” – “Innate, instead of bought”.
Horrid
It implies appalling or loathsome. One of the basic Shakespeare words that have utilized in “Hamlet” – “separate the overall ear with horrid discourse”.
Impertinent
It alludes to being discourteous, superfluous, ill-bred. This is evident in “Whirlwind” – “the suit is impudent to me”.
Inaudible
It alludes to being quiet or subtle. Was first communicated in “All’s Well That Ends Well” – on our quick’ st orders the unintelligible and silent foot of Time”.
Jovial
It implies being upbeat, sprightly, or carefree. Is utilized in “Macbeth” – “Be splendid and happy among your visitors”.
Ladybird
It alludes to a little, round insect. But during Shakespeare’s time, it doesn’t most likely allude to the bug, but rather it could signify “sweetheart”. It was referenced in “Romeo and Juliet” – “What, sheep! What, ladybird!”.
Manager
It means the overseer or the individual who runs the organization. It has been utilized to portray as such in “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” – “Where is our standard manager of jollity?”.
Meditate
It intends to consider, mull over, or think. This is communicated in “Twelfth Night” – “I will ponder the while upon some horrid message”.
Modest
It implies timid, moderate, or humble. It is utilized in “Coriolanus” – “but chase With unassuming warrant”.
Multitudinous
It signifies “a ton” or “too much”. Utilized in “Macbeth” – “this my hand will rather the endless oceans in incarnadine”.
Mutiny
It alludes to the insurgency, uprising, or opposition. Is it found in “Julius Caesar” – “To such an unexpected surge of rebellion”?
New-fangled
It has been utilized for portraying the most recent or the freshest. Utilized in “Adoration’s Labor’s Lost” – “I no more want a rose Than wish a snow in May’s unique merriment”.
Obscene
It implies something disgusting, corrupt, or hostile. Can be seen in “Richard II” – “show so intolerable, dark, disgusting a deed!”
Pageantry
It is one of the words that Shakespeare made to depict a rich show. It was portrayed in “Pericles, Prince of Tire” – “that you appropriately will guess what display”.
Pedant
It means somebody who is fussbudget or formalist. It has been utilized in “Twelfth Night” – “like a pedant that keeps a school”.
Pell-mell
It implies something confused, messy, or in disarray. Utilized in “Adoration’s Labor’s Lost” – “Willy nilly, down with them!”
Premeditated
It means something that is arranged, expected, or intentional. From “Henry V” – “have on them the blame of planned and thought up murder”.
Reliance
It alludes to confirmation or reliance. From “Timon of Athens” – “And my reliances on his fracted dates”.
Scuffle
It alludes to a fight or a battle. It was first presented in “Antony and Cleopatra” – “His chief’s heart, which in the fights of extraordinary battles”.
Submerged
It implies inundate, sink, or submerged. This has been utilized in “Antony and Cleopatra” – “So a large portion of my Egypt were lowered and made”.
Swagger
It implies somebody who is gloating or bragging. It has been utilized in “Henry V” – “a blackguard that swaggered with me the previous evening”.
Uncomfortable
It is a feeling abnormal or uncomfortable. This word was referenced in “Romeo and Juliet” – “Uncomfortable time, why camest thou now”.
Vast
It is sufficient, enormous, or wide in range. Utilized in “Timon of Athens” – “with his incredible fascination Robs the vast ocean”.
We trust that you have taken in something from this Shakespeare words list. Realizing what number of words did Shakespeare developed will make us wonder, is it likewise conceivable that we could make our new words and be perceived?
Certainly, regardless of whether he was the first to write down this rundown of words Shakespeare created, he is as yet answerable for making them mainstream.
Phrases Shakespeare Invented
Besides new words, Shakespeare also coined some colloquial phrases. Here, let us have a look at some familiar quotes and phrases invented by Shakespeare.
- Break the ice
- Cold Comfort
- Devil incarnate
- Fair play
- In a pickle
- Wild-goose chase
- Pound of flesh
- It’s Greek to me
- A Laughing Stock
- Come what come May
- Clothes make the man
- As good luck would have it
- All that glitters is not gold
- Wear one’s heart on one’s sleeve
- What’s done is done
How Did Shakespeare Invent Words?
Some writers invent words, in the same way, Thomas Edison has invented light bulbs: they cobble together bits of sound and create entirely new words without any meaning or relation to existing words. Lewis Carroll does in the first stanza of his “Jabberwocky” poem:
- `Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
- Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
- All mimsy were the borogoves,
- And the more raths outgrabe.
Carroll totally made-up words like “brillig,” “slithy,” “loves,” and “mimsy”; the first stanza alone contains 11 of these made-up words, which are known as nonce words. Words like these aren’t just meaningless, they’re also disposable, intended to be used just once.
Shakespeare did not create nonsense words. He took an entirely different approach. When he invented words, he did it by working with existing words and altering them in new ways. More specifically, he would create new words by:
- Conjoining two words
- Changing verbs into adjectives
- Changing nouns into verbs
- Adding prefixes to words
- Adding suffixes to words
Literary Innovations of William Shakespeare
The most exhaustive take on Shakespeare’s invented words comes from a nice little 874-page book entitled The Shakespeare Key by Charles and Mary Cowden Clarke. Here’s how they explain Shakespeare’s literary innovations:
Though today readers often need the help of modern English translations to fully grasp the nuance and meaning of Shakespeare’s language, Shakespeare’s contemporary audience would have had a much easier go of it. Why? Two main reasons.
First, Shakespeare was part of a movement in English literature that introduced more prose into plays. (Earlier plays were written primarily in rhyming verse.) Shakespeare’s prose was similar to the style and cadence of everyday conversation in Elizabethan England, making it natural for members of his audience to understand.
Amazing New Words Invented by Shakespeare
Shakespeare certainly wasn’t the first person to make up words. It’s actually entirely commonplace for new words to enter a language. We’re adding new words and terms to our “official” dictionaries every year. In the past few years, the Merriam-Webster dictionary has added several new words and phrases, like these:
- bokeh
- elderflower
- fast fashion
- first world problem
- ginger
- microaggression
- mumblecore
- pareidolia
- ping
- safe space
- way back
- way back machine
- woo-woo
So inventing words wasn’t something unique to Shakespeare or Elizabethan England. It’s still going on all the time.
How Many Words Shakespeare Invented and Why?
So, why did Shakespeare have to make up hundreds of new words? For starters, English was smaller in Shakespeare’s time. The language contained many fewer words and not enough for a literary genius like Shakespeare. How many words? No one can be sure. One estimates, one from Encyclopedia Americana, puts the number at 50,000-60,000, likely not including medical and scientific terms.
During Shakespeare’s time, the number of words in the language began to grow. Edmund Weiner, the deputy chief editor of the Oxford English Dictionary, explains it this way:
The vocabulary of English expanded greatly during the early modern period. Writers were well aware of this and argued about it. Some were in favor of loanwords to express new concepts, especially from Latin. Others advocated the use of existing English words, or new compounds of them, for this purpose. Others advocated the revival of obsolete words and the adoption of regional dialect.
In Shakespeare’s collected writings, he used a total of 31,534 different words. Whatever the size of the English lexicon at the time, Shakespeare was in command of a substantial portion of it. Jason Kottke estimates that Shakespeare knew around 66,534 words, which suggests Shakespeare was pushing the boundaries of English vocab as he knew it. He had to make up some new words.
A List of Few More Words Shakespeare Invented
Compiling a definitive list of every word that Shakespeare invented is not at all possible. But creating a list of the words that Shakespeare almost certainly invented can be done.
We have generated a list of words below by starting with the words that Shakespeare was the first to use in written language and then applying research that has identified which words were probably in everyday use during Shakespeare’s time. The result has 422 bona fide words minted, coined, and invented by Shakespeare, from “academe” to “zany”.
- academe
- accessible
- accommodation
- addiction
- admirable
- aerial
- airless
- amazement
- anchovy
- arch-villain
- auspicious
- bacheolorship
- barefaced
- baseless
- batty
- beachy
- bedroom
- belongings
- birthplace
- black-faced
- bloodstained
- bloodsucking
- blusterer
- bodikins
- braggartism
- Brisky
- room staff
- budger
- bump
- buzzer
- candle holder
- catlike
- characterless
- cheap
- chimney-top
- chopped
- churchlike
- circumstantial
- clangor
- cold-blooded
- coldhearted
- compact
- consanguineous
- control
- copper nose
- countless
- courtship
- critical
- cruelhearted
- Dalmatian
- dauntless
- dawn
- day’s work
- deaths-head
- defeat
- depositary
- dewdrop
- dexterously
- disgraceful
- distasteful
- distrustful
- dog-weary
- doit (a Dutch coin: ‘a pittance’)
- domineering
- downstairs
- dwindle
- East Indies
- embrace
- employer
- employment
- enfranchisement
- engagement
- enrapt
- epileptic
- equivocal
- eventful
- excitement
- expedience
- expertness
- exposure
- eyedrop
- eyewink
- fair-faced
- fairyland
- fanged
- fap
- far-off
- farmhouse
- fashionable
- fashionmonger
- fat-witted
- fathomless
- featureless
- fiendlike
- fitful
- fixture
- fleshment
- flirt-gill
- flowery
- fly-bitten
Read also: Who Invented Homework and Why? The History Everyone Should Know
Conclusion
Even today, Shakespeare’s writings continue to live on in our culture and tradition. It’s probably because his influence has become an important part of the development of our English language. It seems that Shakespeare’s writing is deeply implanted in our culture, making it hard to imagine having modern literature without his influence. If you are an aspirant who is looking for a professional English assignment writing service, feel free to get in touch with us. We have a robust English assignment help solution for you.
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William Shakespeare has made a great contribution to the English language. What role did Shakespeare play in the development of vocabulary? Shakespeare invented words by changing common words into nouns, verbs, or adjectives. As you can observe, some of Shakespeare words have either prefixes or suffixes. So, how many words did Shakespeare invent? There are more than 1700 words created by Shakespeare that we can see in his writings.
William Shakespeare may have invented thousands of words, however, some argued that some of these words might not have been invented by him. Instead, this list of Shakespeare vocabulary was actually first written on his works. Most scholars argued that these words which are credited to Shakespeare might have been spoken first. This contraversial topic may be a great idea for a thesis. Our thesis writers can help you handle it. Do you know what words did Shakespeare invent? Here, we will give you some of these words with its corresponding meanings.
Do You Know Some Shakespeare Words And Meanings?
Here are 50 words invented by Shakespeare. If you’d like to improve your writing skills, we advise you to learn and use them. Each word has its corresponding meaning. These words Shakespeare created has been used in one of his plays:
- Accommodation – means adaptation, adjustment, or compromise. Used in “Measure for Measure” – “For all the accommodations that thou bear’st Are nursed by baseness.”
- Addiction – meaning obsession or dependence. This is a common word that is usually used in celebrity news. However, it was first used in “Othello” – “what sport and revels his addiction leads him”
- Agile – means capable of moving instantly or easily. Can be found in “Romeo and Juliet” – “His agile arm beats down their fatal points.”
- Allurement – refers to enticement, appeal, or attraction. It was used in “All’s Well That Ends Well” – “one Diana, to take heed of the allurement of one Count Rousillon”.
- Antipathy – this is one of the words coined by Shakespeare that means to hate or dislike. Used in “King Lear” – “No contraries hold more antipathy Than I”.
- Arch-villain – by adding the prefix “arch-”: Shakespeare created this word that means a very mean person. He used this in “Timon of Athens” – “yet an arch-villain keeps him company”.
- Assassination – this term is used to describe a violent murder or killing. It was observed in “Macbeth” – “if the assassination could trammel up the consequence”.
- Bedazzled – this word was first used to describe the gleam of sunlight. But presently it is used for marketing rhinestone-embellished jeans. Has been used in “The Taming of the Shrew” – “my mistaking eyes, that have been so bedazzled with the sun”.
- Belongings – refers to possessions or properties. This is one of the words made by Shakespeare that can be seen in “Measure for Measure” – “thy belongings are not thine own”.
- Catastrophe – refers to disaster or the spectacular event that started the outcome of the story. You can read this in “King Lear” – “he comes, like the catastrophe of the old comedy.”
- Cold-blooded – most often this word is used to depict serial killers and vampires. But it was first used in “King John” – “Thou cold-blooded slave, hast thou not spoke”.
- Critical – very significant or prone to criticism. It was used in “Othello” – “For I am nothing, if not critical.”
- Demonstrate – to display, show, or present something. Also used in “Othello” – “this may help to thicken other proofs That do demonstrate thinly.”
- Dexterously – skillfully created or done with accuracy. Can be found in “Twelfth Night” – “Dexterously, good madonna.”
- Dire – means dreadful, miserable, or ominous. Used in “Comedy of Errors” – “To bear the extremity of dire mishap!”
- Dishearten – means to disappoint or dismay. The opposite or hearten is first used in “Henry V” – lest he, by showing it, should dishearten his army”
- Dislocate – means to make it out of place. This is shown in “King Lear” – “to dislocate and tear Thy flesh and bones.”
- Emphasis – it means giving attention to something or making it prominent. Can be seen in “Antony and Cleopatra” – “Be choked with such another emphasis!”
- Eventful – it is used to describe a momentous or exciting moment. It was expressed in “As You Like It” – “that ends this strange eventful history”
- Eyeballs – is another word for the eyes. Used in “As You Like It” – “Your bugle eyeballs, nor your cheek of cream,”
- Emulate – means to copy or imitate something. Can be read in “Merry Wives of Windsor” – “I see how thine eye would emulate the diamond”.
- Exist – means to obtain a reality. Used in “King Lear” – “From whom we do exist and cease to be;”
- Extract – means to withdraw, eliminate, draw out. This is depicted in “Henry V” – “Could out of thee extract one spark of evil”.
- Fashionable – it means stylish or trendy. Centuries ago it was used in “Troilus and Cressida” – “For time is like a fashionable host”.
- Frugal – refers to a person who is economical, thrifty, stingy. It was used in “Merry Wives of Windsor” – “I was then frugal of my mirth”.
- Half-blooded – having a relationship with one parent only. First used in “King Lear” – “Half-blooded fellow, yes.”
- Hot-blooded – being passionate or showing extreme feelings. Also used in “King Lear” – “the hot-blooded France, that dowerless took our youngest born”.
- Hereditary – something that you have inherited, congenital. This is evident in “Antony and Cleopatra” – “Hereditary, rather than purchased”.
- Horrid – means horrible or dreadful. One of the common Shakespeare words that was used in “Hamlet” – “cleave the general ear with horrid speech“.
- Impertinent – refers to being insolent, irrelevant, disrespectful. This is apparent in “Tempest” – “the suit is impertinent to myself”.
- Inaudible – refers to being silent or imperceptible. Was first expressed in “All’s Well That Ends Well” – on our quick’st decrees the inaudible and noiseless foot of Time”.
- Jovial – means being happy, cheerful, or jolly. Is used in “Macbeth” – “Be bright and jovial among your guests”.
- Ladybird – refers to a small, round beetle. But during Shakespeare’s time, it does not probably refer to the beetle, but rather it could mean “sweetheart”. It was mentioned in “Romeo and Juliet” – “What, lamb! What, ladybird!”.
- Manager – meaning the administrator or the person who runs the company. It was used to depict as such in “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” – “Where is our usual manager of mirth?”.
- Meditate – means to ponder, contemplate, or think. This is expressed in “Twelfth Night” – “I will meditate the while upon some horrid message”.
- Modest – means shy, moderate, or humble. It is used in “Coriolanus” – “but hunt With modest warrant”.
- Multitudinous – it means “a lot” or “too many”. Used in “Macbeth” – “this my hand will rather the multitudinous seas in incarnadine”.
- Mutiny – refers to revolution, uprising, or resistance. Is it found in “Julius Caesar” – “To such a sudden flood of mutiny”.
- New-fangled – it is used for describing the latest or the newest. Used in “Love’s Labour’s Lost” – “I no more desire a rose than wish a snow in May’s new-fangled mirth”.
- Obscene – means something indecent, immoral, or offensive. Can be observed in “Richard II” – “show so heinous, black, obscene a deed!”
- Pageantry – one of the words that Shakespeare created to describe a lavish show. It was described in “Pericles, Prince of Tyre” – “that you aptly will suppose what pageantry”.
- Pedant – someone who is perfectionist or formalist. It is used in “Twelfth Night” – “like a pedant that keeps a school”.
- Pell-mell – means something disordered, clutter, or in chaos. Used in “Love’s Labour’s Lost” – “Pell-mell, down with them!”
- Premeditated – something that is planned, intended, or deliberate. From “Henry V” – “have on them the guilt of premeditated and contrived murder”.
- Reliance – refers to assurance or dependence. From “Timon of Athens” – “And my reliances on his fracted dates”.
- Scuffle – refers to a brawl or a fight. It was first introduced in “Antony and Cleopatra” – “His captain’s heart, which in the scuffles of great fights”.
- Submerged – means immerse, sink, or underwater. This is used in “Antony and Cleopatra” – “So half my Egypt were submerged and made”.
- Swagger – means someone who is bragging or boasting. It was used in “Henry V” – “a rascal that swaggered with me last night”.
- Uncomfortable – feeling awkward or uneasy. This word was mentioned in “Romeo and Juliet” – “Uncomfortable time, why camest thou now”.
- Vast – something that is ample, very large or wide in range. Used in “Timon of Athens” – “with his great attraction Robs the vast sea”.
We hope that you have learned something from this Shakespeare words list. Knowing how many words did Shakespeare invented will make us wonder, is it also possible that we could create our new words and be understood?
Undeniably, whether or not he was the first to write down this list of words Shakespeare invented, he is still responsible for making them popular.
Even today, Shakespeare’s writings still continue to live on in our culture and tradition. It’s probably because his influence has become an important part in the development of our English language. It seems that Shakespeare’s writings have been deeply implanted in our culture, making it hard to image having a modern literature without his influence.