20 Words We Owe to William Shakespeare

No high school English curriculum is complete without a mandatory dose of William Shakespeare, and no
American teenager makes it to graduation without whining about how boring it is to learn about iambic
pentameter. As contemporary speakers of the English language, however, they might be interested to learn
how much the Bard of Avon had in common with the generations that popularized the acronyms LOL and
OMG and reinvented the 1940s slang term hipster. Endlessly imaginative and not overly concerned with
grammatical convention, Shakespeares scripts contain over 2200 never-before-seen wordsa diverse
collection of loan-words from foreign languages, compound words from existing English terms, nouns
turned into verbs, and creatively applied prefixesmany of which have entered into everyday language.
Here are 20 examples of words we can thank Shakespeare for.
1. Addiction: Othello, Act II, Scene II
It is Othello's pleasure, our noble and valiant general, that, upon certain tidings now arrived, importing the
mere perdition of the Turkish fleet, every man put himself into triumph; some to dance, some to make
bonfires, each man to what sport and revels his addiction leads him. Herald
If not for that noble and valiant general and his playwright, our celebrity news coverage might be sorely
lacking.
2. Arch-villain: Timon of Athens, Act V, Scene I
You that way and you this, but two in company; each man apart, all single and alone, yet an arch-villain
keeps him company. Timon
With the added prefix of arch-, meaning more extreme than others of the same type, Shakespeare was able to
distinguish the baddest of the bad.
3. Assassination: Macbeth, Act I, Scene VII
If it were done when 'tis done, then 'twere well it were done quickly: if the assassination could trammel up
the consequence, and catch with his surcease success. Macbeth
Though the term assassin had been observed in use prior to the Scottish play, it seems apt that the work
introduced yet another term for murder most foul.
4. Bedazzled: The Taming of the Shrew, Act IV, Scene V
Pardon, old father, my mistaking eyes, that have been so bedazzled with the sun that everything I look on
seemeth green. Katherina
A word first used to describe the particular gleam of sunlight is now used to sell rhinestone-embellished
jeans. Maybe poetry really is dead.
5. Belongings: Measure for Measure, Act I, Scene I
Thyself and thy belongings are not thine own so proper as to waste thyself upon thy virtues, they on thee.
Duke Vincentio
People prior to Shakespeares time did own things; they just referred to them by different words.
6. Cold-blooded: King John, Act III, Scene I

Thou cold-blooded slave, hast thou not spoke like thunder on my side, been sworn my soldier, bidding me
depend upon thy stars, thy fortune and thy strength, and dost thou now fall over to my fores? Constance
Beyond its literal meaning, the 17th-century play initiated a metaphorical use for the term that is now most
often used to describe serial killers and vampirestwo categories which, of course, need not be mutually
exclusive.
7. Dishearten: Henry V, Act IV, Scene I
Therefore when he sees reason of fears, as we do, his fears, out of doubt, be of the same relish as ours are:
yet, in reason, no man should possess him with any appearance of fear, lest he, by showing it, should
dishearten his army. King Henry V
The opposite of hearten, a word already extant at the time of Shakespeares writing, dishearten was
most appropriately first utilized in print by King Henry V, who didnt let insurmountable odds at the Battle
of Agincourt get him down.
8. Eventful: As You Like It, Act II, Scene VII
Last scene of all, that ends this strange eventful history, is second childishness and mere oblivion, sans
teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything. - Jaques
If all the worlds a stage, its safe to assume that an event or two is taking place.
9. Eyeball: The Tempest, Act I, Scene II
Go make thyself like a nymph o' the sea: be subject to no sight but thine and mine, invisible to every
eyeball else. Prospero
Shakespeares protagonist Prospero, though no medical doctor, can claim to be the first fictional character to
name those round objects with which we see.
10. Fashionable: Troilus and Cressida, Act III, Scene III
For time is like a fashionable host that slightly shakes his parting guest by the hand, and with his arms
outstretch'd, as he would fly, grasps in the comer: welcome ever smiles, and farewell goes out sighing.
Ulysses
And with just 11 letters, centuries of debate over whats hot or not began.
11. Half-blooded/hot-blooded: King Lear, Act V, Scene III/ Act III, Scene III
Half-blooded fellow, yes. Albany
Why, the hot-blooded France, that dowerless took our youngest born, I could as well be brought to knee his
throne, and, squire-like; pension beg to keep base life afoot. Lear
As is the tradition in Shakespearean tragedy, nearly everyone in King Lear dies, so the linguistic fascination
here with blood is unsurprising, to say the least.
12. Inaudible: Alls Well That Ends Well, Act V, Scene III
Let's take the instant by the forward top; for we are old, and on our quick'st decrees the inaudible and
noiseless foot of Time steals ere we can effect them. King of France

One of a number of words (invulnerable, indistinguishable, inauspicious, among others) which Shakespeare
invented only in the sense of adding a negative in- prefix where it had never been before.
13. Ladybird: Romeo and Juliet, Act I, Scene III
What, lamb! What, ladybird! God forbid! Where's this girl? What, Juliet! Nurse
Although the Oxford English Dictionary notes that this particular term of endearment has fallen into disuse,
maybe its about time for its comeback. Valentines Day is coming up, after all.
14. Manager: A Midsummer Nights Dream, Act V, Scene I
Where is our usual manager of mirth? What revels are in hand? Is there no play to ease the anguish of a
torturing hour? King Theseus
If not for Shakespeare, workday complaining in the office break room just wouldnt be the same.
15. Multitudinous: Macbeth, Act II, Scene II
No, this my hand will rather the multitudinous seas in incarnadine, making the green one red. Macbeth
Multitudinous may not be the most appropriate synonym when the phrase a lot starts to crop up too
often in your writing, but its certainly the one with the most letters.
16. New-fangled: Loves Labours Lost, Act I, Scene I
At Christmas I no more desire a rose than wish a snow in May's new-fangled mirth. Biron
Ironically, this word sounds old-fashioned if used today.
17. Pageantry: Pericles, Prince of Tyre, Act V, Scene II
This, my last boon, give me, for such kindness must relieve me, that you aptly will suppose what
pageantry, what feats, what shows, what minstrelsy, and pretty din, the regent made in Mytilene to greet the
king. Gower
Although modern scholars generally agree that Shakespeare only appears to have written the second half of
the play, this newly invented term for an extravagant ceremonial display appears in the section definitively
authored by the Bard.
18. Scuffle: Antony and Cleopatra, Act I, Scene I
His captain's heart, which in the scuffles of great fights hath burst the buckles on his breast, reneges all
temper, and is become the bellows and the fan to cool a gipsy's lust. Philo
Another example of an existing verb that Shakespeare decided could stand up just as well as a noun.
19. Swagger: Henry V, Act II, Scene IV/A Midsummer Nights Dream, Act III, Scene I
An't please your majesty, a rascal that swaggered with me last night. Williams
What hempen home-spuns have we swaggering here, so near the cradle of the fairy queen? Puck
By transitive property, Shakespeare is responsible for Justin Biebers swag.

20. Uncomfortable: Romeo and Juliet, Act IV, Scene V

Despised, distressed, hated, martyr'd, kill'd! Uncomfortable time, why camest thou now to murder, murder
our solemnity? - Capulet
Un- was another prefix Shakespeare appended to adjectives with a liberal hand. In the case of Romeo and
Juliet, a tragedy in which a father mourns his daughters suicide, uncomfortable seems to have originated
with a slightly more drastic sense than how we use it now.
Of course, just because the first written instances of these terms appeared in Shakespeares scripts doesnt
preclude the possibility that they existed in the oral tradition prior to his recording them, but as Shakespeare
might have said, it was high time (The Comedy of Errors) for such household words (Henry V).