In all of his works – the plays, the sonnets and the narrative poems – Shakespeare uses 17,677 different words. Amongst these words, 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
Unusual (and Unused) Words Shakespeare Invented
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. We do have some ideas as to what these words may mean, though much is guesswork. Take a guess at how you might use words like:
Armgaunt
Eftes
Impeticos
Insisture
Pajock
Pioned
Ribaudred
Wappened
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.
Seen enough words Shakespeare invented? Why not see them in action by reading our pick of the very best Shakespeare quotes (including the classic to be or not to be), or reading quotes by play, including Macbeth quotes, Romeo & Juliet quotes, Julius Caesar quotes and Hamlet quotes. Or perhaps you’re more of a romantic soul, and would like to read Shakespeare’s very best love quotes.
What do you think of these Shakespeare words – any words Shakespeare invented you think we should add? Let us know in the comments section below!
he also invented the word swagger!
This really helps with my English HW, thank you for this! But I can’t really believe that he invented generous or road as these were words used long before him.
Some of my favorites are scallywag, leapfrog, balderdash. If a word, phrase or pun sounds quirky, odd and literary, its origins are probably with Shakespeare. And yes, I do believe Shakespeare the man existed as a real man, actor, manager and grain merchant in Stratford, not as a pseudonym for a wealthy nobleman. Genius has been found in the most unusual and unpredictable places. Just look at the life on John Harrison the cabinet maker who solved the longitude problem.
Some of these words are really weird
Ok boomer ??????
Rude much
don’t get mad boomer
ohhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That’s tuff!!!!
Thou overwheening urchin-snouted scurvy-knave!
Half-cocked wet bellied winkled fushnik snide rat!
???
The unfounded claim “Of those words, Shakespeare invented an incredible 1,700 of them!” is based on the unfounded claim that if Shakespeare is given as the author of the earliest quotation for a lexeme or for a meaning in The Oxford English Dictionary, the passage quoted constitutes the first use of the lexeme or the meaning.
This article will set you straight on the matter:
Gold, David L. 2005. “An Aspect of Lexicography Still Not Fully Professionalized: The Search for Antedatings and Postdatings (With Examples Mostly from English and Some from Other Languages).” Revista Alicantina de Estudios Ingleses. No. 18. November. Pp. 25-69 [the article is available on line, free of charge, at rua.ua.es/dspace/handle/…/browse?type…Gold%2C+David+L].
trash
I think the word road appears in Beowulf.
i didnt know he made the word bloody…
Isn’t Shakespeare a fascinating specimen of a man!
Clown him
Shakespeare made a lot of words iin middle englsih fromat
He also invented the name Jessica for the play The Merchant of Venice