William Shakespeare is celebrated for writing enduring literary classics such as Hamlet and Romeo and Juliet, but his contribution to the lexicon of English is just as impressive as his storytelling abilities. Through his plays, sonnets, and poems, Shakespeare didn’t just entertain; he reshaped the very fabric of English by coining new words, redefining old ones, and popularizing expressions we still use today. Here are five ways the Bard of Avon’s linguistic innovation left a profound impact on how we speak, write, and think.
Shakespeare masterfully integrated foreign influences into his work by anglicizing words. For instance, in Henry VI, he introduced an early version of the term “bandit,” derived from the Italian bandito, to describe criminals or outlaws — a usage that has since become standard. The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) lists this as the earliest record of the term, though Shakespeare spelled it “bandeto.” Similarly, he adapted the Latin term frūgālis into the English word “frugal” (meaning “economical”) in The Merry Wives of Windsor, and the French expédience became the English “expedience” (meaning “haste”) in Richard III.
Shakespeare embraced the practice of turning nouns into verbs, and we still use many of them today. For instance, the verb “to elbow” (“to nudge”) made its first written appearance in King Lear (1608). Before this, “elbow” was used only as a noun in English to denote the bony body part. Similarly, Shakespeare gave new life to the noun “champion” (“a victor”) in Macbeth, turning it into a verb meaning “to challenge to a contest.” (Today, the standard verb definition is “to defend or advocate.”) Shakespeare’s creativity gave new meaning to existing words, allowing audiences to quickly pick up on the altered usage.
The Bard was a pioneer in playing with prefixes and suffixes to create original words. He was the first to record the word “dauntless,” which appears in Henry VI in the line, “Let thy dauntlesse minde still ride in triumph…” He combined “daunt” (“to subdue”) with the suffix “-less” (without) to form a word that means “fearless” — the new word “dauntless” is now firmly part of the English lexicon. Additional words suffixed by Shakespeare include “lonely,” “swagger,” and “gloomy.” He was especially fond of the prefix “un-” (typically meaning “opposite of”), which he used to coin words including “unaware,” “uncomfortable,” “undress,” and “unearthly.” His work helped standardize “un-” as a form of negation in English.
Shakespeare’s work is a treasure trove of idioms and expressions we still use today. We find the expression “heart of gold” in Henry V, where it was used to praise the king’s good nature. Today, it retains this meaning of kindness or generosity. Similarly, the expression “in stitches,” meaning “to laugh uncontrollably,” originated in Twelfth Night, where Shakespeare wrote, “If you desire the spleen, and will laugh yourselves into stitches, follow me.”
However, one of the most famous phrases attributed to him is a misquote: “The world is your oyster” is a distortion of the original line, “The world’s mine oyster,” from The Merry Wives of Windsor. Both versions have the same meaning, suggesting that endless opportunities await.
Shakespeare’s love for wordplay included creating original compound words or terms by fusing two existing words. The OED credits Shakespeare with the first recorded use of several now-common compounds, including “lackluster,” “skim milk,” and “shooting star.” In Richard II, he wrote, “I see thy glory like a shooting starre fall to the base earth,” coining the phrase that would become a staple in the English language. He also contributed to our animal vocabulary with terms such as “watchdog” (from The Tempest) and “puppy dog” (from King John).
It’s hard to imagine our modern language without Shakespeare’s immeasurable influence on words, phrases, and expressions. From puppy dogs and shooting stars to expressions such as “heart of gold,” it seems English would be far less dynamic without the Bard. The next time you use one of these words or phrases, know you’re keeping his linguistic legacy alive by preserving this inventive piece of English history.
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