Guest post from Mignon Fogarty
The 452nd anniversary of William Shakespeare’s birth is coming. He is not only known as a timeless playwright, but also as a prolific inventor of words. Although modern researchers have found that some words originally attributed to him, such as puke, have earlier sources, there are still many that hold up today as Shakespeare’s creations according to the Oxford English Dictionary:
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
Visit the Grammar Girl site to learn about famous Shakespearean phrases and insults.
About the Author
Mignon Fogarty is the founder the Quick and Dirty Tips podcast network and creator of Grammar Girl, which was named one of Writer’s Digest‘s 101 Best Websites for Writers in 2011, 2012, and 2013. Mignon is the author of the New York Times best-seller Grammar Girl’s Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing and six other books on writing. She appeared as a guest on the Oprah Winfrey Show and has been featured in the New York Times, Business Week, the Washington Post, USA Today, CNN.com, and more. She hates the phrase “grammar nazi” and loves the word “kerfuffle.”
