All Words Shakespeare Invented (Or Influenced)

What are the words Shakespeare invented? Shakespeare is said to have coined more than 1,500 terms in total throughout all of his literary works. We claim these are Shakespeare’s words, although many 1,500 terms were likely in regular usage even during the Elizabethan and Jacobean eras.

They were not documented before Shakespeare used them in his sonnets, plays, and poems. In this way, Shakespeare might have been the only known individual to record these phrases in writing. However, may have had a strong influence on their creation of them.

Commonly used words Shakespeare invented

Common used words that Shakespeare invented:

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

All words Shakespeare invented (and influenced)

It is not easy to compile a complete list of every term coined by Shakespeare. It is possible, however, to compile a list of the terms that Shakespeare probably nearly originated.

We created the list of terms below by beginning with the words Shakespeare used as the first person to employ in written language and were likely in common usage during Shakespeare’s time.

academe
accessible
accommodation
addiction
admirable
aerial
airless
amazement
anchovy
arch-villain
auspicious
bacheolorship
barefaced
baseless
batty
beachy
bedroom
belongings
birthplace
black-faced
bloodstained
bloodsucking
blusterer
bodikins
braggartism
brisky
broomstaff
budger
bump
buzzer
candle holder
catlike
characterless
cheap
chimney-top
chopped
churchlike
circumstantial
clangor
cold-blooded
coldhearted
compact
consanguineous
control
coppernose
countless
courtship
critical
cruelhearted
Dalmatian
dauntless
dawn
day’s work
deaths-head
defeat
depositary
dewdrop
dexterously
disgraceful
distasteful
distrustful
dog-weary
doit (a Dutch coin: ‘a pittance’)
domineering
downstairs
dwindle
East Indies
embrace
employer
employment
enfranchisement
engagement
enrapt
epileptic
equivocal
eventful
excitement
expedience
expertness
exposure
eyedrop
eyewink
fair-faced
fairyland
fanged
fap
far-off
farmhouse
fashionable
fashionmonger
fat-witted
fathomless
featureless
fiendlike
fitful
fixture
fleshment
flirt-gill
flowery
fly-bitten
footfall
foppish
foregone
fortune-teller
foul mouthed
Franciscan
freezing
fretful
full-grown
fullhearted
futurity
gallantry
garden house
generous
gentlefolk
glow
go-between
grass plot
gravel-blind
gray-eyed
green-eyed
grief-shot
grime
gust
half-blooded
heartsore
hedge-pig
hell-born
hint
hobnail
homely
honey-tongued
hornbook
hostile
hot-blooded
howl
hunchbacked
hurly
idle-headed
ill-tempered
ill-used
impartial
imploratory
import
in question
inauspicious
indirection
indistinguishable
inducement
informal
inventorially
investment
invitation
invulnerable
jaded
juiced
keech
kickie-wickie
kitchen-wench
lackluster
ladybird
lament
land-rat
laughable
leaky
leapfrog
lewdster
loggerhead
lonely
long-legged
love letter
lustihood
lustrous
madcap
madwoman
majestic
malignancy
manager
marketable
marriage bed
militarist
mimic
misgiving
misquote
mockable
money’s worth
monumental
moonbeam
mortifying
motionless
mountaineer
multitudinous
neglect
never-ending
newsmonger
nimble-footed
noiseless
nook-shotten
obscene
ode
offenseful
offenseless
Olympian
on purpose
oppugnancy
outbreak
overblown
overcredulous
overgrowth
overview
pageantry
pale-faced
passado
paternal
pebbled
pedant
pedantical
pendulous
pignut
pious
please-man
plumpy
posture
prayerbook
priceless
profitless
Promethean
protester
published
puking (disputed)
puppy-dog
pushpin
quarrelsome
radiance
rascally
rawboned
reclusive
refractory
reinforcement
reliance
remorseless
reprieve
resolve
restoration
restraint
retirement
revokement
revolting
ring carrier
roadway
roguery
rose-cheeked
rose-lipped
rumination
ruttish
sanctimonious
satisfying
savage
savagery
schoolboy
scrimer
scrubbed
scuffle
seamy
self-abuse
shipwrecked
shooting star
shudder
silk stocking
silliness
skim milk
skimble-skamble
slugabed
soft-hearted
spectacled
spilth
spleenful
sportive
stealthy
stillborn
successful
suffocating
tanling
tardiness
time-honored
title page
to arouse
to barber
to bedabble
to belly
to besmirch
to bet
to bethump
to blanket
to cake
to canopy
to castigate
to cater
to champion
to comply
to compromise
to cow
to cudgel
to dapple
to denote
to dishearten
to dislocate
to educate
to elbow
to enmesh
to enthrone
to fishify
to glutton
to gnarl
to gossip
to grovel
to happy
to hinge
to humor
to impede
to inhearse
to inlay
to instate
to lapse
to muddy
to negotiate
to numb
to offcap
to operate
to out-Herod
to out-talk
to out-villain
to outdare
to outfrown
to outscold
to outsell
to outweigh
to overpay
to overpower
to overrate
to palate
to pander
to perplex
to petition
to rant
to reverb
to reword
to rival
to sate
to secure
to sire
to sneak
to squabble
to subcontract
to sully
to supervise
to swagger
to torture
to un muzzle
to unbosom
to uncurl
to undervalue
to undress
to unfool
to unhappy
to unsex
to widen
tortive
traditional
tranquil
transcendence
trippingly
unaccommodated
unappeased
unchanging
unclaimed
unearthy
uneducated
unfrequented
ungoverned
ungrown
unhelpful
unhidden
unlicensed
unmitigated
unmusical
unpolluted
unpublished
unquestionable
unquestioned
unreal
unrivaled
unscarred
unscratched
unsolicited
unsullied
unswayed
untutored
unvarnished
unwillingness
upstairs
useful
useless
valueless
varied
varletry
vasty
vulnerable
watchdog
water drop
water fly
well-behaved
well-bred
well-educated
well-read
wittolly
worn out
wry-necked
yelping
zany

Examples of Shakespeare words in use

“The green-eyed monster”

Meaning: jealousy.

Example: When my ex-husband started seeing someone else, the green-eyed monster raised its reared head.

“In a pickle.”

Meaning: a challenging or unpleasant circumstance.

Example: I’ll be in a pickle if I don’t get my salary on Thursday.

“The world is your oyster.”

Meaning: being able to capitalize on life’s possibilities.

Example: Don’t be downhearted; the world is your oyster.

“Catch a cold.”

Meaning: to become ill.

Example: I can’t breathe; I catch a cold.

“It’s all Greek to me.”

Meaning: anything indistinct or incomprehensible.

Example: This technology is all Greek to me.

“Love is blind.”

Meaning: an inability to perceive flaws in a partner; acting erratically when in love.

Example: I don’t like her, but he is mad at her. What can we do if love is blind?

“Wild goose chase”

Meaning: a fruitless and never-ending quest.

Example: I recognized we were on a wild goose chase after two hours of walking in the jungle.

“A Heart of Gold”

Meaning: a person who is exceedingly friendly or honorable.

Example: Jessica has a heart of gold as she always helps others.

“Break the ice.”

Meaning: to initiate a conversation.

Example: I tried to break the ice by talking to the girl next to me.

“Wear your heart on your sleeve.”

Meaning: to openly show your feelings, particularly when others recognize them without any effort.

Example: It’s not always a good idea to put your heart on your sleeve in business.

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About the author

Dalia Y.: Dalia is an English Major and linguistics expert with an additional degree in Psychology. Dalia has featured articles on Forbes, Inc, Fast Company, Grammarly, and many more. She covers English, ESL, and all things grammar on GrammarBrain.