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Everyday Words from Shakespeare

Think Shakespeare only gave us Romeo & Juliet? Think again! He also coined words we still often use even today. Shakespeare didn’t just transform theatre – he made a huge contribution to the English language. Words like fashionable, lonely, and bedazzled first appeared in his plays.
This latest post is a brief exploration of how the Bard’s creativity still shapes our language today.

Everyday Words Invented by Shakespeare

When people think of Shakespeare, they often imagine lofty poetry, grand tragedies or Elizabethan costumes. But did you know he also shaped the English we speak every day? The Bard had a knack for coining new words and phrases when nothing else quite fitted – and many of them stuck.

Here are a few you might use without even realizing their origin:

  • Eyeball – First appeared in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Before that, people didn’t have a word for the literal ball of the eye.
  • Lonely – Found in Coriolanus and Twelfth Night, this word helped capture the feeling of isolation that still very much resonates today.
  • Fashionable – Used in Troilus and Cressida to describe someone stylish or in vogue. Clearly, that one never went out of style. (See what I just did there?)
  • Swagger – From A Midsummer Night’s Dream, where Shakespeare used it to describe a presumptuous strut. It’s been walking confidently ever since.
  • Bedazzled – First appearing in The Taming of the Shrew, it described someone overcome with wonder. Today, it’s also what you maybe did to your denim jacket.

Of course, Shakespeare didn’t invent every word he’s credited with – some may have existed in speech before he wrote them down. But as his plays were so widely performed and printed, he often gave words their very first spotlight in print.

So next time you use a word like lonely or swagger, you might have the world’s most famous playwright to thank.

👉 Do you have a favourite Shakespearean word or phrase? Drop it in the comments – it would be fun to see which others still resonate with us today.