Shakespeare Invented Over 1,700 English Words

While one man single-handedly coining thousands of words seems incredible, the reality is a fascinating look into a time when the English language was a dynamic and unstandardized playground. During the late 16th and early 17th centuries, English was rapidly evolving, absorbing words from other languages and lacking the rigid rules of a formal dictionary. Shakespeare, a master wordsmith, needed a richer vocabulary to express the complex emotions and actions of his characters on stage. He met this need by cleverly repurposing existing words, such as turning the noun "elbow" into a verb for pushing someone away, or by adding new prefixes and suffixes to create words like "unreal."

It is more accurate, however, to say Shakespeare is the first known *written source* for these words, rather than their sole inventor. The compilers of the Oxford English Dictionary attribute a word's first use to the earliest surviving text in which it appears. Because Shakespeare's plays were so popular, widely printed, and carefully preserved, they became the first official record for many terms that were likely already part of the lively, spoken slang of Elizabethan London. Whether he was a true inventor or a brilliant popularizer, he effectively plucked these words from the air and cemented them into our lexicon forever.