Words invented by Shakespeare

list of words invented by Shakespeare

academe accused addiction advertising amazement
arouse assassination backing bandit bedroom
beached besmirch birthplace blanket bloodstained
barefaced blushing bet bump buzzer
caked cater champion circumstantial cold-blooded
compromise courtship countless critic dauntless
dawn deafening discontent dishearten drugged
dwindle epileptic equivocal elbow excitement
exposure eyeball fashionable fixture flawed
frugal generous gloomy gossip green-eyed
gust hint hobnob hurried impede
impartial invulnerable jaded label lackluster
laughable lonely lower luggage lustrous
madcap majestic marketable metamorphize mimic
monumental moonbeam mountaineer negotiate noiseless
obscene obsequiously ode olympian outbreak
panders pedant premeditated puking radiance
rant remorseless savagery scuffle secure
skim milk submerge summit swagger torture
tranquil undress unreal varied vaulting
worthless zany gnarled grovel

Bandit

Henry VI, Part 2. 1594

Critic

Love’s Labour Lost. 1598.

Dauntless

Henry VI, Part 3. 1616.

Dwindle

Henry IV, Part 1. 1598.

Elbow (as a verb)

King Lear. 1608.

Green-Eyed (to describe jealousy)

The Merchant of Venice. 1600.

Lackluster

As You Like It. 1616.

Lonely

Coriolanus. 1616.

Skim-milk

Henry IV, Part 1. 1598.

Swagger

Midsummer Night’s Dream. 1600.

Shakespeare must have loved the prefix un- because he created or gave new meaning to more than 300 words that begin with it. Here are just a few:

Unaware

Venus & Adonis. 1593.

Uncomfortable

Romeo & Juliet. 1599

Undress

Taming of the Shrew. 1616.

Unearthly

A Winter’s Tale. 1616

Unreal

Macbeth. 1623