In addition to 36 plays that kids are forced to read in high school, William Shakespeare also wrote something like 1,700 English words for the very first time. While many were new verb or adjectival forms or even just compound words that he squished together, others, like "articulate," were brand new inventions that The Bard pulled from Latin roots and also sometimes out of nowhere. This list of words that Shakespeare invented includes some personal favorites, like "swagger" and "gloomy," and also some words that just sound great, like "sanctimonious," "lackluster," "madcap," and "blanket." Who doesn't love a good blanket?
Shakespeare worked in a time when the English language was in a state of flux, constantly changing and expanding in the wake of colonization, exploration, and war. Linguists estimate that more than 30,000 new words developed in the English language between the years 1500 and 1650. During his lifetime (~1564-1616), Shakespeare published a cool 17,677 unique words, 1,700 of which he coined himself. He also invented a bunch of phrases that are still popular today, including "kill with kindness," "break the ice," and "good riddance." Another is "Knock knock! Who's there?" No joke, that is in Hamlet. (Another is "hoist with his own petard," which nobody really says anymore.)
What's your favorite word made up by Shakespeare? Something majestic, like "majestic"? Something fun to say, like "obsequiously"? Maybe something that otherwise wouldn't have a name at all, like "elbow"? It would have been nice if he also named the inside part of the elbow ("inbow," hello) and the back part of the knee. Thanks for nothing, Shakespeare. Vote!
http://www.ranker.com/list/words-invented-by-shakespeare/carly-kiel,
Moonbeam
Act III Scene I - A Midsummer Night's Dream
Obscene
Act I Scene I - Love's Labour's Lost
Gloomy
Act V Scene IV - King Henry VI, Part I
Swagger
Act III Scene I - A Midsummer Night's Dream
Gossip
Act V Scene I - The Comedy of Errors
Sanctimonious
Act IV Scene I - The Tempest
Generous
Act V Scene I - Love's Labour's Lost
Majestic
Act I Scene II - Julius Caesar
Lackluster
Act III Scene IV - As You Like It
Elbow
Act IV Scene III - King Lear