Word made up by shakespeare

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

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

Английские слова, которые придумал Шекспир

Уильям Шекспир вошел в книгу рекордов Гиннесса как самый продаваемый драматург. Через 400 лет после его смерти количество проданных копий его пьес превысило 4 миллиарда. Еще Шекспир занимает почетное третье место в топе самых переводимых авторов за всю историю литературы, уступив только Жюлю Верну и Агате Кристи.

Но сегодня мы поговорим о другом его достижении. Ведь Шекспир считается создателем больше 1700 слов, которые вошли в обиход английского языка. Это абсолютный рекорд. И о некоторых словах, вышедших из-под пера великого писателя, мы сегодня расскажем.

Исторический контекст словотворения Шекспира

Уильям Шекспир жил и трудился во второй половине XVI – первой половине XVII века. И как раз в этот период английский язык активно менялся. Под влиянием книгопечатников был принят единый Стандарт королевской канцелярии, который устанавливал статус государственного диалекта и правила написания отдельных слов.

Изменения в среднеанглийском языке были огромные. Английский активно поглощал заимствованные слова из греческого, иврита, латыни и еще целого ряда языков, благодаря дипломатии, активной колонизации и военным конфликтам. Но единого формата и правил словотворения не было — все происходило хаотично. Об этом мы подробно описали в этой статье, поэтому не будем останавливаться. 

Уильям Шекспир был прогрессистом. Он полностью отринул среднеанглийский и писал на новом варианте языка, который сейчас называют ранненовоанглийским. 

Строгих грамматических и лексических норм еще не было, поэтому Шекспир получил максимальную свободу творчества. Для удобства рифмования и передачи смыслов он активно создавал новые лексемы, сливая несколько слов в одно, добавляя суффиксы и префиксы, превращая одну часть речи в другую. Или же внаглую перетаскивая лексемы из других языков. Интернета тогда не было, приходилось развлекаться, как получится.

Во многом благодаря ему современный английский звучит именно так, как звучит.

Очень многие лексемы, которые сегодня воспринимаются как «обычные», создал именно Шекспир. В его время это были ого-го какие неологизмы. Но все 1700 слов разбирать не будем, возьмем только семь из них.

Bandit

Бандит, разбойник

Впервые слово встречается в пьесе «Генрих VI, часть вторая». И здесь Шекспир, не мудрствуя лукаво, берет итальянское слово banditto и без изменений вставляет его в свое произведение.

Earl of Suffolk. Come, soldiers, show what cruelty ye can,
That this my death may never be forgot!
Great men oft die by vile bezonians: 
A Roman sworder and banditto slave
Murder’d sweet Tully; Brutus’ bastard hand
Stabb’d Julius Caesar; savage islanders
Pompey the Great; and Suffolk dies by pirates. 

Перевод Е. Бируковой, издание 1957 г.

Капитан: Так проявите всю жестокость вашу,
Чтоб смерть мою вовек не позабыли!
Великие порой от подлых гибнут.
Разбойник, гладиатор, римский раб
Зарезал Туллия; бастардом Брутом
Заколот Юлий Цезарь; дикарями –
Помпеи, а Сеффолка убьют пираты.
А что до тех, кому назначен выкуп,
Хочу я, чтоб один отпущен был. –
Идите вы за мной, а он уйдет. 

В дальнейшем Шекспир еще раз использовал слово в пьесе «Жизнь Тимона Афинского», но уже во множественном числе. Его он тоже «позаимствовал» из итальянского — banditti. 

После итальянский суффикс перестали использовать, приблизив написание слов ближе к английскому — bandit. 

До этого для обозначения «бандитов» в английском языке существовали слова robber и brigand. 

Bloody

Кровавый, чертовский

Любимое британское выражение «Bloody hell» было бы невозможным без Шекспира. Впервые он использовал его в пьесе «Как вам это понравится» (As You Like It).

Orlando. What, wouldst thou have me go and beg my food,
Or with a base and boist’rous sword enforce
A thievish living on the common road?
This I must do, or know not what to do;
Yet this I will not do, do how I can.
I rather will subject me to the malice
Of a diverted blood and bloody brother. 

Перевод Ю. Лифшица

Орландо. Ты предлагаешь мне пойти с сумой?
Иль на большой дороге промышлять
При помощи презренного меча?
Осталось это, больше ничего.
Но нет! Умру — на это не пойду!
И пусть кровавый брат меня убьет,
Пусть кровь мою он пьет, братоубийца!

Интересно, что bloody у Шекспира почти всегда в переносном смысле. Всего Шекспир использовал его 218 раз, и в 205 из них слово значит «чертов» или «чертовски». И лишь 13 раз — «окровавленный». 

Этимология простая — взять слово blood и добавить к нему суффикс, который превращает существительное в прилагательное. Если раньше не додумались — то это проблемы лингвистов. Ну а переносное значение — это интересная придумка автора, которая аукается и сегодня. 

Critic

Критик, осуждающий

Это слово Шекспир беззастенчиво стащил из французского языка. В оригинале оно писалось critique и означало «судья, цензор». Поэт же взял лексему в том значении, в котором знаем мы ее сейчас — «критик», «человек, который нелестно отзывается о чем-то».

O me, with what strict patience have I sat,
To see a king transformed to a gnat!
To see great Hercules whipping a gig,
And profound Solomon to tune a jig,
And Nestor play at push-pin with the boys,
And critic Timon laugh at idle toys!
Where lies thy grief, O, tell me, good Dumain?
And gentle Longaville, where lies thy pain?
And where my liege’s? all about the breast:
A caudle, ho! 

Перевод Ю Корнеева

О, как я долго молча возмущался
Тем, что монарх в букашку превращался.
Что на скрипице Геркулес пиликал,
Что джигу мудрый Соломон мурлыкал,
Что Нестор в чехарду с детьми играл
И что Тимон их игры одобрял!
Дюмен любезный, что за мрачный вид?
Лонгвиль, признайтесь, что у вас болит?
У вас, король? Живот? Грудная клетка?
Эй, рвотного! 

К сожалению, в переводе лексема потерялась совсем. И «критик Тимон» превратился просто в Тимона. А ведь здесь скрыта явная отсылка на мизантропа и циника Тимона Афинского, о жизни которого Шекспир позже написал пьесу.  

А еще Шекспир один раз использовал слово critic в качестве глагола — «критиковать». Его можно найти в сонете 112. 

Ginger

Имбирь

Название имбиря претерпело очень много изменений в английском. Когда лексема только попала из латыни, она звучала как zíngiber (или zingiberi). Именно такое научное название имбирь сегодня носит — род растений называется Zíngiber, а знакомый нам острый корень, который подают к суши, — Zingiber officinale. 

Вот только это «официальное название». На вульгарной или упрощенной латыни лексема уже другая — gingiber. В Англии она вытеснила «правильное» название имбиря. А ближе к XV веку и вовсе превратилась в gingifer.

Шекспир укоротил лексему, из чего получилось ginger. Вот, к примеру, фраза из пьесы «Генрих VI, часть I». 

I have a gammon of bacon and two razors of ginger,
to be delivered as far as Charing-cross. 

Пер. Е. Бируковой

Мне надобно доставить в Черинг‐Кросс окорок ветчины да
два тюка имбиря.

Интересно, что автор пошел дальше и придумал слово gingerly, значение которого можно понять как «робко» или «насторожено».

Gossip

Сплетня

Неожиданно, но «сплетня» в английском — это лексический родственник «крестного отца». В староанглийском лексема godsib означала «крестный родитель» — это сокращение от «God sibb».

Кстати, отсюда пошло и слово sibling, о котором мы рассказали здесь. 

В XIII веке godsib получило еще одно значение — «приятель, друг», но в довольно узком смысле — «люди, которые пришли на крещение ребенка». Так как это были преимущественно женщины, то во времена Шекспира стал популярен еще один смысл — «легкий разговор о других людях». Его и взял за основу автор при создании новой лексемы gossip.

Формально он просто взял довольно редкое слово и одно из его значений, немного изменил написание — и готово.

Впервые Шекспир использовал лексему в одной из первых своих комических пьес — «Комедии ошибок».  

Solinus. With all my heart, I’ll gossip at this feast. 

Пер. А Некора

Герцог. Всем сердцем принимаю приглашенье. 

В дословном переводе было бы: «С удовольствием посплетничаю на этом празднике». Интересно, что само слово «сплетничать» не несло никаких негативных коннотаций. Оно всего лишь касалось обсуждения чей-то жизни или поступков. 

Но уже в «Зимней сказке», которая была написана примерно через 18 лет после «Комедии ошибок», Шекспир уже использует gossip в негативном контексте, как «сплетню». 

Так что сам автор искал наиболее подходящие способы использования тех слов, которые сам и придумал.

Lonely

Одинокий

Одно из слов, придуманное уже почти на закате карьеры. Шекспир взял обычное слово alone — «один» и трансформировал в lonely — «одинокий». При этом значение хоть и осталось примерно похожим, но изменилось в нюансах.

Alone — это физически один, а lonely — одинокий, чувствующий одиночество. 

Впервые автор использовал его в не слишком известной на русскоязычных просторах пьесе «Кориолан» или «Трагедия о Кориолане», как еще переводят название.

My mother, you wot well
My hazards still have been your solace: and
Believe’t not lightly—though I go alone,
Like to a lonely dragon, that his fen
Makes fear’d and talk’d of more than seen—your son
Will or exceed the common or be caught
With cautelous baits and practise. 

К сожалению, в единственном изданном переводе «Кориолана» на русский переводчик выбросил целый кусок сцены, в котором и встречалось слово lonely. Поэтому попробуем перевести эту часть самостоятельно:

…though I go alone, Like to a lonely dragon
впрочем, я иду один, как к одинокому дракону

Здесь становится ясно, зачем Шекспиру понадобилось новое слово, если и старое вроде бы нормальное. Но именно здесь заметна разница между alone и lonely. А после лексема вошла в обиход и ее стали использовать другие поэты и писатели.

Manager

Управляющий

Слово кажется современным, но его придумал Шекспир. Неожиданно, но правда. Хотя по смыслу в оригинале оно ближе не к «управляющему», а к «повелителю». То есть, к человеку, который чем-нибудь владеет, а не просто может управлять.

Точно с этим значением слово появляется в пьесе «Бесплодные усилия любви»: 

Adieu, valour! rust rapier!
be still, drum! for your manager is in love; yea,
he loveth. Assist me, some extemporal god of rhyme,
for I am sure I shall turn sonnet. Devise, wit;
write, pen; for I am for whole volumes in folio. 

Перевод Ю. Корнеева

Прощай, мужество! Ржавей, клинок! Умолкни,
барабан! Повелитель ваш влюблен. Да, он любит! Приди мне
на помощь, гений импровизации. Я, вне всякого сомнения,
примусь сочинять сонеты. Изощряйся, ум! Строчи, перо! Я
расположен заполнить целые фолианты!

Сама лексема была создана из глагола manage, которое в XVI веке означало «управлять лошадью». А manage в свою очередь сформировалось из глагола man — кстати, в значении «управлять» он используется и сегодня.

К примеру, во фразе «The old man the boat». Сможете перевести ее правильно с первого раза? Проверьте тут.

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Шекспира не зря называют главным поэтом англоязычного мира. Ведь именно он стоял у истоков современного английского и вложил огромное количество усилий в его развитие. 

Пьесами Шекспира вдохновлялись десятки и сотни поэтов и прозаиков, именно благодаря ему в английском языке появилась культура создания неологизмов, которая в ходу и сейчас. 

Хотите разобраться со всеми нюансами английского языка от Шекспира до наших дней? Регистрируйтесь на бесплатный онлайн-урок с преподавателем и изучайте английский с удовольствием.

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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”.

1. academe
2. accessible
3. accommodation
4. addiction
5. admirable
6. aerial
7. airless
8. amazement
9. anchovy
10. arch-villain
11. auspicious
12. bacheolorship
13. barefaced
14. baseless
15. batty
16. beachy
17. bedroom
18. belongings
19. birthplace
20. black-faced
21. bloodstained
22. bloodsucking
23. blusterer
24. bodikins
25. braggartism
26. Brisky
27. room staff
28. budger
29. bump
30. buzzer
31. candle holder
32. catlike
33. characterless
34. cheap
35. chimney-top
36. chopped
37. churchlike
38. circumstantial
39. clangor
40. cold-blooded
41. coldhearted
42. compact
43. consanguineous
44. control
45. copper nose
46. countless
47. courtship
48. critical
49. cruelhearted
50. Dalmatian
51. dauntless
52. dawn
53. day’s work
54. deaths-head
55. defeat
56. depositary
57. dewdrop
58. dexterously
59. disgraceful
60. distasteful
61. distrustful
62. dog-weary
63. doit (a Dutch coin: ‘a pittance’)
64. domineering
65. downstairs
66. dwindle
67. East Indies
68. embrace
69. employer
70. employment
71. enfranchisement
72. engagement
73. enrapt
74. epileptic
75. equivocal
76. eventful
77. excitement
78. expedience
79. expertness
80. exposure
81. eyedrop
82. eyewink
83. fair-faced
84. fairyland
85. fanged
86. fap
87. far-off
88. farmhouse
89. fashionable
90. fashionmonger
91. fat-witted
92. fathomless
93. featureless
94. fiendlike
95. fitful
96. fixture
97. fleshment
98. flirt-gill
99. flowery
100. 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 (1564-1616), considered the greatest writer in the English language, used more than 24,000 words in his writings, more than any other author. Of those words, more than 1,700 were first used by him, as far we can tell. He may have made up many of them himself.

How can you possibly understand someone who keeps making up new words? Because Shakespeare made up his new words from old, familiar words: nouns into verbs, verbs into adverbs, adverbs into nouns. He added new prefixes and suffixes to existing words. For example, gloom was already a noun that meant ‘darkness’ and even a verb, but Shakespeare turned it into a adjective, as in ‘the ruthless, vast and gloomy woods’ in Titus Andronicus.

Renaissance writers, trying to express classical ideas for the first time in English, often borrowed words from the classical languages of Greek and Latin, and William Shakespeare was no exception. Also, in Shakespeare’s day, the rules of English grammar were not yet formalized, so he was freer to invent his own.

After more than 400 years of changes in the English language, Shakespeare is still beloved and still understood. Because of his knowledge of essential language, we still know what the Princess means in Loves Labours Lost when she says (archaically) “Prepare; I will away tonight,” even though she leaves out the verb “go.”

Here are 30 of the words invented by William Shakespeare, as compiled by my colleague Maeve in her article Shakespeare’s Vocabulary, each one demonstrated in a sentence from one of his plays:

1. accommodation: adjustment, adaptation, compromise
   Thou art not noble; For all the accommodations that thou bear’st Are nursed by baseness. – Measure for Measure
2. agile: able to move quickly or easily
   His agile arm beats down their fatal points. – Romeo and Juliet
3. allurement: Attractiveness, appeal, enticement.
   That is an advertisement to a proper maid in Florence, one Diana, to take heed of the allurement of one Count Rousillon – All’s Well That Ends Well
4. antipathy: dislike, hatred
   No contraries hold more antipathy Than I and such a knave. – King Lear
5. catastrophe: disaster, the dramatic event that begins the resolution of the story
   And pat! he comes, like the catastrophe of the old comedy. – King Lear
6. critical: inclined to criticize, extremely important
   O gentle lady, do not put me to’t; For I am nothing, if not critical. – Othello
7. demonstrate: show, display, present
   And this may help to thicken other proofs That do demonstrate thinly. – Othello
8. dexterously: skillfully, with precision.
   Dexterously, good madonna. – Twelfth Night
9. dire: dreadful, dismal, portentous
   Hapless Aegeon, whom the fates have mark’d To bear the extremity of dire mishap! –
   Comedy of Errors
10. dislocate: to put out of place
    They are apt enough to dislocate and tear Thy flesh and bones. – King Lear
11. emphasis: Special weight, attention, forcefulness or prominence given to something
    Be choked with such another emphasis! Say, the brave Antony. – Antony and Cleopatra
12. eyeballs: the eyes
    ‘Tis not your inky brows, your black silk hair, Your bugle eyeballs, nor your cheek of cream, – As You Like It
13. emulate: imitate, copy
    I see how thine eye would emulate the diamond: – Merry Wives of Windsor
14. exist: to be, to have reality
    By all the operation of the orbs From whom we do exist and cease to be; –
    King Lear
15. extract: draw out, remove, withdraw,
    May it be possible, that foreign hire Could out of thee extract one spark of evil That might annoy my finger? – Henry V
16. frugal: thrifty, cheap, economical
    I was then frugal of my mirth: Heaven forgive me! – Merry Wives of Windsor
17. hereditary: inherited, passed on from parents
    Hereditary, rather than purchased; what he cannot change, than what he chooses. –
    Antony and Cleopatra
18. horrid: terrible, horrible
    He would drown the stage with tears And cleave the general ear with horrid speech; – Hamlet
19. impertinent: insolent, ill-mannered, irrelevant
    In very brief, the suit is impertinent to myself, – Tempest
20. jovial: jolly, cheerful, merry
    Be bright and jovial among your guests to-night. – Macbeth
21. meditate: think, contemplate, study
    I will meditate the while upon some horrid message for a challenge. – Twelfth Night
22. modest: moderate, slight, humble,
    Do not cry havoc, where you should but hunt With modest warrant. Coriolanus
23. mutiny: tumult, strife, rebellion against a legal authority, especially at sea
    Good friends, sweet friends, let me not stir you up To such a sudden flood of mutiny. – Julius Caesar
24. obscene: indecent, offensive, repulsive
    O, forfend it, God, That in a Christian climate souls refined Should show so heinous, black, obscene a deed! – Richard II
25. pedant: a schoolmaster, someone who shows off his knowledge by using big words
    Most villanously; like a pedant that keeps a school i’ the church. – Twelfth Night
26. pell-mell: hasty, uncontrolled, confused
    Advance your standards, and upon them, lords; Pell-mell, down with them! – Love’s Labour’s Lost
27. premeditated: deliberate, planned in advance
    Some peradventure have on them the guilt of premeditated and contrived murder; – Henry V
28. reliance: trust, dependence
    And my reliances on his fracted dates Have smit my credit: – Timon of Athens
29. submerged: underwater, below the surface, hidden
    So half my Egypt were submerged and made A cistern for scaled snakes! –
    Antony and Cleopatra
30. vast: Very large or wide
    The sun’s a thief, and with his great attraction Robs the vast sea: – Timon of Athens

Could we make up new words too, and still be understood? In imitation of Shakespeare, I tried making up a couple – do you understand me?

The anticlean toddler boy.

Though you lamb yourself after your violence, quoth Sherlock, yet before judge and jury I will unlamb you.

Shakespeare invented many words that might surprise you. In Shakespeare’s day, friend was already a noun, but Shakespeare turned it into a verb. Befriend is a more standard verb that expresses the same thing, but a newly-coined word has extra power and surprise – but unless you do it discreetly, you’ll sound like e e cummings or James Joyce. Shakespeare also used the word unfriended, centuries before Mark Zuckerberg. The word swagger, popular with rap musicians, was first used in Henry V and A Midsummer Night’s Dream, though Shakespeare didn’t invent the word swag.