On William Shakespeare’s 400th Anniversary, 400 Words He Introduced To The English Language
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It’s been exactly 400 years since William Shakespeare made his final exeunt from this world, and we owe the incredible poet, playwright, and actor a lot in terms of the English language. The bard introduced some 1,700 words and new uses of words into our language during his short 52 years.
Most of Shakespeare’s works were developed between 1589 and 1613, including such infamous works as Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, Macbeth, and Romeo and Juliet. Each of these works included a totally unique storyline as well as some of the most commonly used words in modern English vocabulary.
To say that William Shakespeare had a way with words is an understatement. It’s more accurate to say that he paved the way into a broader, more prolific language that we know today. In honor of the 400th anniversary of William’s death, let’s look at 400 of the most commonplace words Shakespeare added to our English vocabulary.
- Academe
- Accessible
- Accommodation
- Accused
- Addiction
- Admirable
- Advertising
- Aerial
- Airless
- Amazement
- Anchovy
- Arch-villain
- Arouse
- Assassinate
- Assassination
- Auspicious
- Bachelorship
- Backing
- Bandit
- Barber
- Barefaced
- Baseless
- Batty
- Beached
- Beachy
- Bedazzle
- Bedroom
- Belly
- Belongings
- Besmirch
- Bet
- Birthplace
- Black-faced
- Blanket
- Bloodstained
- Bloodsucking
- Blushing
- Blusterer
- Bold-faced
- Braggartism
- Bump
- Buzzer
- Caked
- Candleholder
- Castigate
- Catlike
- Characterless
- Cheap
- Chimney
- Clangor
- Chapped
- Church-like
- Circumstantial
- Cold-blooded
- Coldhearted
- Compact
- Comply
- Compromise
- Consanguineous
- Control
- Countless
- Courtship
- Critic
- Critical
- Cruel-hearted
- Cudgel
- Dalmatian
- Dapple
- Dauntless
- Dawn
- Day’s work
- Deaths-head
- Deafening
- Defeat
- Denote
- Depositary
- Dewdrop
- Dexterously
- Disgraceful
- Dishearten
- Dislocate
- Distasteful
- Distrustful
- Dog-weary
- Domineering
- Downstairs
- Drugged
- Dwindle
- East Indies
- Educate
- Elbow
- Embrace
- Employer
- Employment
- Enfranchisement
- Engagement
- Enmesh
- Enrapt
- Enthrone
- Epileptic
- Equivocal
- Eventful
- Excitement
- Expedience
- Expertness
- Exposure
- Eyeball
- Eye-drop
- Eyewink
- Fair-faced
- Fairyland
- Fanged
- Farmhouse
- Far-off
- Fashionable
- Fashionmonger
- Fathomless
- Fat-witted
- Featureless
- Fiendlike
- Fitful
- Fixture
- Flawed
- Flirt-gill
- Flowery
- Fly-bitten
- Footfall
- Foppish
- Foregone
- Fortune-teller
- Foul mouthed
- Franciscan
- Freezing
- Fretful
- Frugal
- Full-grown
- Full-hearted
- Futurity
- Gallantry
- Garden house
- Generous
- Gentlefolk
- Gloomy
- Glow
- Gnarl
- Gnarled
- Go-between
- Gossip
- Grass plot
- Gravel-blind
- Gray-eyed
- Green-eyed
- Grief-shot
- Grime
- Grovel
- Gust
- Half-blooded
- Hedge-pig
- Hell-born
- Hinge
- Hint
- Hobnail
- Homely
- Hornbook
- Hostile
- Hot-blooded
- Howl
- Humor
- Hunchbacked
- Hurly
- Hurried
- Hurry
- Idle-headed
- Ill-tempered
- Ill-used
- Impartial
- Impede
- Import
- Inaudible
- Inauspicious
- Indirection
- Indistinguishable
- Inducement
- Informal
- Inlay
- Instate
- Investment
- Invitation
- Invulnerable
- Jaded
- Juiced
- Kitchen-wench
- Label
- Lackluster
- Ladybird
- Lament
- Land-rat
- Lapse
- Laughable
- Leaky
- Leapfrog
- Loggerhead
- Lonely
- Long-legged
- Love letter
- Luggage
- Lustrous
- Madcap
- Madwoman
- Majestic
- Malignancy
- Manager
- Marketable
- Marriage bed
- Metamorphose
- Militarist
- Mimic
- Misgiving
- Misquote
- Mockable
- Money’s worth
- Monumental
- Moonbeam
- Mortifying
- Motionless
- Mountaineer
- Muddy
- Multitudinous
- Neglect
- Negotiate
- Never-ending
- New-fangled
- Newsmonger
- Nimble-footed
- Noiseless
- Obscene
- Obsequiously
- Ode
- Offenseless
- Olympian
- Operate
- Outbreak
- Outsell
- Out-talk
- Out-villain
- Outweigh
- Overblown
- Over credulous
- Overgrowth
- Overpay
- Overpower
- Overrate
- Overview
- Pageantry
- Palate
- Pale-faced
- Pander
- Paternal
- Pebbled
- Pedant
- Pedantical
- Pendulous
- Perplex
- Petition
- Pignut
- Pious
- Please-man
- Plumpy
- Posture
- Prayerbook
- Premeditated
- Priceless
- Profitless
- Promethean
- Protester
- Published
- Puke
- Puking
- Puppy-dog
- Pushpin
- On purpose
- Quarrelsome
- In question
- Radiance
- Rant
- Rascally
- Rawboned
- Reclusive
- Reinforcement
- Reliance
- Remorseless
- Reprieve
- Resolve
- Restraint
- Retirement
- Reverb
- Revolting
- Reword
- Rival
- Roadway
- Roguery
- Rose-cheeked
- Rose-lipped
- Rumination
- Sanctimonious
- Sate
- Satisfying
- Savage
- Savagery
- Schoolboy
- Scrubbed
- Scuffle
- Seamy
- Secure
- Self-abuse
- Shipwrecked
- Shooting star
- Shudder
- Silliness
- Sire
- Skim milk
- Slugabed
- Sneak
- Soft-hearted
- Spectacled
- Spleenful
- Sportive
- Squabble
- Stealthy
- Stillborn
- Subcontract
- Successful
- Suffocating
- Sully
- Summit
- Supervise
- Swagger
- Tardiness
- Time-honored
- Title page
- Torture
- Traditional
- Tranquil
- Transcendence
- Trippingly
- Unaccommodated
- Unappeased
- Unchanging
- Unclaimed
- Uncomfortable
- Uncurl
- Undervalue
- Undress
- Unearthy
- Uneducated
- Unfrequented
- Ungoverned
- Unhappy
- Unhelpful
- Unhidden
- Unlicensed
- Unmitigated
- Unmusical
- Unpolluted
- Unpremeditated
- Unpublished
- Unquestionable
- Unquestioned
- Unreal
- Unrivaled
- Unscarred
- Unscratched
- Unsex
- Unsolicited
- Unsullied
- Unswayed
- Unvarnished
- Unwillingness
- Upstairs
- Unsolicited
- Unvarnished
- Useful
- Useless
- Valueless
- Varied
- Vaulting
- Vulnerable
- Watchdog
- Water drop
- Water fly
- Well-behaved
- Well-bred
- Well-educated
- Well-read
- Widen
- Wormhole
- Worn out
- Worthless
- Yelping
- Zany
William Shakespeare is unquestionably one of the most impactful writers in the history of the English language. Thanks to William’s inventiveness and dedication to his work, English is one of the most complex and intricate languages on the Earth today.
[Image via Hulton Archive/Getty Images]
