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)
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.
William Shakespeare used more than 20,000 words in his plays and poems, and his works provide the first recorded use of over 1,700 words in the English language. It is believed that he may have invented or introduced many of these words himself, often by combining words, changing nouns into verbs, adding prefixes or suffixes, and so on. Some words stuck around and some didn’t.
Although lexicographers are continually discovering new origins and earliest usages of words, below are listed words and definitions we still use today that are widely attributed to Shakespeare.
Shakespeare’s Words A-Z
Alligator: (n) a large, carnivorous reptile closely related to the crocodile
Romeo and Juliet, Act 5 Scene 1
Bedroom: (n) a room for sleeping; furnished with a bed
A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Act 2 Scene 2
Critic: (n) one who judges merit or expresses a reasoned opinion
Love’s Labour’s Lost, Act 3 Scene 1
Downstairs: (adv) on a lower floor; down the steps
Henry IV Part 1, Act 2 Scene 4
Eyeball: (n) the round part of the eye; organ for vision
Henry VI Part 1, Act 4 Scene 7
Fashionable: (adj) stylish; characteristic of a particular period
Troilus and Cressida, Act 3 Scene 3
Gossip: (v) to talk casually, usually about others
The Comedy of Errors, Act 5 Scene 1
Hurry: (v) to act or move quickly
The Comedy of Errors, Act 5 Scene 1
Inaudible: (adj) not heard; unable to be heard
All’s Well That Ends Well, Act 5 Scene 3
Jaded: (adj) worn out; bored or past feeling
Henry VI Part 2, Act 4 Scene 1
Kissing: (ppl adj) touching with the lips; exchanging kisses
Love’s Labour’s Lost, Act 5 Scene 2
Lonely: (adj) feeling sad due to lack of companionship
Coriolanus, Act 4 Scene 1
Manager: (n) one who controls or administers; person in charge
Love’s Labour’s Lost, Act 1 Scene 2
Nervy: (adj) sinewy or strong; bold; easily agitated
Coriolanus, Act 2 Scene 1
Obscene: (adj) repulsive or disgusting; offensive to one’s morality
Love’s Labour’s Lost, Act 1 Scene 1
Puppy dog: (n) a young, domestic dog
King John, Act 2 Scene 1
Questioning: (n) the act of inquiring or interrogating
As You Like It, Act 5 Scene 4
Rant: (v) to speak at length in inflated or extravagant language
Hamlet, Act 5 Scene 1
Skim milk: (n) milk with its cream removed
Henry IV Part 1, Act 2 Scene 3
Traditional: (adj) conventional; long-established, bound by tradition
Richard III, Act 3 Scene 1
Undress: (v) to remove clothes or other covering
The Taming of the Shrew, Induction Scene 2
Varied: (adj) incorporating different types or kinds; diverse
Titus Andronicus, Act 3 Scene 1
Worthless: (adj) having no value or merit; contemptible
The Two Gentlemen of Verona, Act 4 Scene 2
Xantippe: (n) shrewish wife of Socrates; figuratively, a bad-tempered woman
The Taming of the Shrew, Act 1 Scene 2
Yelping: (adj) uttering sharp, high-pitched cries
Henry VI Part 1, Act 4 Scene 2
Zany: (n) clown’s assistant; performer who mimics another’s antics
Love’s Labour’s Lost, Act 5 Scene 2
Links:
1. Master List of Words “Invented” by Shakespeare, and links to detailed tables.
2. The Concentrated List: Still-Common Words Invented by Shakespeare.
3. Common Words Commonly but Wrongly Attributed to Shakespeare.
Why did Shakespeare invent words?
Methodology.
IT TOOK A YEAR of painstaking research, grinding through thousands of words listed in the Oxford English Dictionary as having been invented, or at least first employed on the written page, by William Shakespeare. But we have completed the project.
SO HOW MANY WORDS DID SHAKESPEARE INVENT?
William Shakespeare invented 594 words. This number does not include compound words.
The reason we do not count compound words in the list is that it is almost impossible to come up with a good definition of what should count as a compound word and what should not. For example, in Henry VI, Part I, Shakespeare wrote, “To me, blood–thirsty lord” (Act II, Scene iii). Based on this line, the Bard is given credit with inventing what is now a common compound word, bloodthirsty.
But take a look at these lines from various plays:
For the blood-boltered Banquo smiles upon me (Macbeth, IV.i.122).
As cognizance of my blood–drinking hate (Henry VI, Part 1, II.iv.108).
If he i’ th’ blood-sized field lat swollen (The Two Noble Kinsman, I.i.99).
Are the bold-faced words genuine compound words? Probably yes.
Now take a look at these examples:
Here’s a Bohemian–Tartar tarries the coming down of thy fat woman (The Merry Wives of Windsor, IV.v.18).
Would any but these boiled-brains of nineteen and two-and-twenty hunt this weather? (The Winter’s Tale, III.iii.62).
It is like a barber’s chair that fits all buttocks…the brawn-buttock, or any buttock. (All’s Well That Ends Well, II.ii.17).
Should the bold-faced terms above be considered real compound words? They are listed in the indispensable dictionary, Shakespeare’s Words, by David and Ben Crystal as compound words; but the sentences also make perfect sense if these terms are accounted to be distinct words.
In sum, then, I have made the simple decision to not include what may or may not be compound words in the list of Shakespeare’s invented words. However, I have created a list of popular and still-commonly-used compound words which Shakespeare invented.
DID SHAKESPEARE REALLY INVENT WORDS?
Contrary to public belief, Shakespeare did not really “invent” words, in the sense that he, for example, decided he needed a word that means “cow”, but with four syllables, and so out of his imagination came up with the word “grabofillbert”. Rather, he adapted old words by fitting them with prefixes and suffixes, or by combining them, to give them a new sense.
We do use the word “invented” on this site, for two reasons: (1) it is a handy short-hand way to get the attention of internet researchers, and (2) to be gently ironic.
Why did Shakespeare invent words? Because (1) he needed a word; (2) he would have been in a hurry to complete any play he was working on, due to the publics great demand for new material, and (3) he did not have a dictionary or thesaurus to help. Indeed, the first dictionaries had not yet been written in the early 17th century.
NO ACCURATE INFORMATION AVAILABLE ANYWHERE (ESPECIALLY ON THE INTERNET)
In this section of our website, we will be presenting what we hope will be the most accurate list of words “invented” by William Shakespeare available anywhere – and also lists of words wrongly attributed to him!
The internet is filled with misinformation regarding words first created by the Bard.
The most persistent of the “facts” is that Shakespeare invented 1700 words; the number 1700 has taken off like a virus, and is casually tossed around by many individuals writing on the subject, despite the fact that there seems to be no particular authority for this number.
Several websites list some number of words attributed to Shakespeare; they all include words that even a bit of research would show do not belong there (they having been used previously to Shakespeare, and with the same meaning as Shakespeare used). They also mislead the inattentive reader, by failing to distinguish between
(1) words actually coined by Shakespeare, and
(2) words he adopted by using them
(a) in a new part of speech (e.g. using a traditional noun as a verb), or
(b) to mean something different.
Some sites even commingle Shakespeare’s original words with words they claim he “popularized”, whatever that means!
Undoubtedly the reason for these errors is that the venerable Oxford English Dictionary is believed to be, frankly, infallible. If you look up the word anchovy, bedroom, or hint, for example, the earliest citation listed is from the works of Shakespeare. However, a bit of research proves that the words all appeared in print well before Shakespeare ever even began writing plays and poems (considered to be around 1589-1590).
This is no fault of the OED’s; most of the OED’s entries have not been revisited in more than a century. The editors of the OED are in the early stages of a project to revise and update the dictionary, but this monumental task will take years, if not decades, to complete.
THE CREATION OF THE OED
Indeed, the creation of the OED (a fantastic story, told brilliantly by Simon Winchester in his 1999 book, The Professor and the Madman) ensured it would be far from perfect: its words and citations were provided over a period of decades by a world-wide army of volunteers, reading random old books and writing down words and quotes whenever a particular word or phrase caught their fancy. Such a subjective and helter-skelter approach was bound to be error-filled.
Frustrated by a lack of precise and correct information, your editor has begun a lengthy project to research and determine as accurate a list of words first used by Shakespeare available anywhere ever.
Click here to see the master list of words Shakespeare created, and links to detailed tables for all words, grouped by letter.
Click here to read why Shakespeare invented words.
Click here to learn about the methodology your humble servant is using for this project.
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