Words & Phrases Invented By William Shakespeare
Below are just a few examples of words and phrases commonly used in Modern English and coined (or at least first written) by the Bard.
Words:
- accommodation
- admirable
- aerial
- amazement
- apostrophe
- assassination
- auspicious
- barefaced
- baseless
- belongings
- bloody
- bump
- castigate
- changeful
- clangor
- control (noun)
- countless
- courtship
- critic
- critical
- dawn
- dexterously
- dishearten
- dislocate
- dwindle
- eventful
- exposure
- fitful
- frugal
- generous
- gloomy
- gnarled
- hostile
- hurry
- ill-used
- impartial
- inauspicious
- indistinguishable
- invulnerable
- lapse
- laughable
- lonely
- long-legged
- majestic
- misplaced
- monumental
- multitudinous
- obscene
- ode
- overblown
- palmy
- perusal
- pious
- premeditated
- radiance
- reliance
- road
- sanctimonious
- seamy
- skim milk
- sportive
- submerge
- suspicious
- watchdog
Phrases:
- “All that glisters is not gold.” > Merchant of Venice
- “As good luck would have it” > The Merry Wives of Windsor
- “Baited breath”
- “Be all / End all”
- “Brave New World” > The Tempest, Act V, Scene 1 > Probably written 1610-1611
- “Break the ice” > The Taming of the Shrew
- “Breathed his last”
- “Clothes make the man.” > Hamlet
- “Cold comfort” > King John
- “Come what come may” > Macbeth
- “Dead as a doornail”
- “Devil incarnate” > Titus Andronicus
- “Faint hearted”
- “Fair play” > The Tempest, Act V, Scene 1 > Probably written 1610-1611
- “Fair play / Foul play”
- “Fight fire with fire”
- “For Goodness’ sake”
- “Full circle” > King Lear, Act V, Scene 3 > Written 1605-1606
- “The game is up”
- “Good riddance”
- “Green eyed monster”
- “Heart of gold”
- “Heart of hearts”
- “In a pickle” > The Tempest
- “It’s Greek to me” > Julius Caesar
- “Knock knock! Who’s There?”
- “A laughing stock” > The Merry Wives of Windsor
- “Lie low”
- “Love is blind”
- “Makes your hair stand on end”
- “Naked truth”
- “Off with his head”
- “Out of the Jaws of Death”
- “A piece of work”
- “Pound of flesh” > The Merchant of Venice
- “Seen better days”
- “Send him packing”
- “Set your teeth on edge”
- “So-so”
- “A sorry sight”
- “Such stuff as dreams are made on” > The Tempest
- “The lady doth protest too much” > Hamlet
- “Too much of a good thing” > As You Like It
- “Vanish into thin air”
- “Wear one’s heart on one’s sleeve” > Othello
- “Wild goose chase” > Romeo and Juliet
- “What’s done is done” > Macbeth
- “The world is my oyster”
Sources:
- https://www.nosweatshakespeare.com/resources/words-shakespeare-invented/
- https://grammar.yourdictionary.com/word-lists/list-of-words-and-phrases-shakespeare-invented.html
Shakespearean vocabulary page now up on Bill’s List.