Shakespeare Dictionary

Explore our Shakespeare dictionary to understand words Shakespeare uses that are not in common usage today, or may have a different meaning. If there’s a word you need to understand that’s not listed, please let us know in the comments section at the bottom of the page.

In many ways, Shakespeare is the founder of the modern English that we use. It’s generally accepted that he invented or brought into popular usage thousands of words and phrases, and wrote some of literature’s most memorable lines. However, Shakespeare wrote almost 400 years ago in Early Modern English, and a number of words that were common in his day have since fallen out of usage. To help you better understand Shakespeare’s works, we’ve put together the Shakespeare dictionary below, listing these words, along with a description and example of the word used in context in a Shakespeare play:

Alack

An expression of dismay, sorrow, regret.

Example from Shakespeare:
‘Alack the day, she’s dead, she’s dead, she’s dead!’ – Lady Capulet on Juliet’s apparent death. (Romeo and Juliet)

Cozen

To deceive, trick or cheat.

Example from Shakespeare:
‘I will be hang’d, if some eternal villain,
Some busy and insinuating rogue,
Some cogging, cozening slave, to get some office,
Have not devised this slander; I’ll be hang’d else.’ – Emilia on realizing that Desdemona has been slandered. (Othello)

Fie

To express annoyance or disapproval – ‘shame on you!’, ‘rubbish!’ etc.

Example from Shakespeare:
‘ Fetch him off, I pray you; he speaks nothing but madman: fie on him!’ – Olivia when accosted by Malvolio, insinuating that she has sent him a love letter. (Twelfth Night)

Huggermugger

A secret act done too quickly, without thinking it through.

Example from Shakespeare:
‘And we have done but greenly in huggermugger to inter him’ – Claudius regretting having buried Polonius in such a hurry in secret. (Hamlet)

Prithee

‘Please’, ‘if you don’t mind’

Example from Shakespeare:
‘Ay; prithee, sing.‘ – Orsino to Feste, asking him to sing. (Twelfth Night)

Marry

Used in several ways _ it can introduce a statement, meaning something like, ‘listen’, or ‘I agree’, or ‘indeed’ or ‘well’. It’s an oath by the Virgin Mary.

Example from Shakespeare:
‘Marry, sir, I would have some confidence with you that decerns you nearly.’ – Dogberry to Leontes, telling him about Don John’s plot. (Much Ado About Nothing)

Sirrah

An address used to someone regarded as socially inferior – ‘my good man’, ‘fellow’, ‘hey you!’

Example from Shakespeare:
‘You, sirrah, provide your block and your axe to-morrow four o’clock .’ – The judge telling the executioner to prepare an execution. (Measure for Measure)

Sooth

‘In fact’, ‘to tell you the truth’

Example from Shakespeare:
‘O, fellow, come, the song we had last night.
Mark it, Cesario, it is old and plain;
The spinsters and the knitters in the sun
And the free maids that weave their thread with bones
Do use to chant it: it is silly sooth,
And dallies with the innocence of love,
Like the old age.’ – Duke Orsino ordering Feste to sing. (Twelfth Night)

Wherefore

Wherefore simply means ‘why’

Example from Shakespeare:
‘Wherefore art thou Romeo?’ (Romeo and Juliet)

Zounds

An exclamation in the form of an oath – a swearword, abbreviation of ‘God’s wounds!’ There are many modern forms, such as ‘Jesus Christ!’ or ‘God almighty’ and such constructions.

Example from Shakespeare:
‘Zounds, ye fat paunch, an ye call me coward, by the
Lord, I’ll stab thee.’ – Poins to Falstaff. (Henry IV Part 1)

Have any suggestions for words to add to the Shakespeare dictionary? Let us know in the comments section below.