Shakespeare’s Gift to English: The 1,700 Words He Invented That You Use Every Day
William Shakespeare coined, adapted, or recorded first usage of over 1,700 words that remain in common use today — words like bedroom, lonely, generous, dawn, rant, gossip, bedroom, obscene, and amazement. No other individual writer has had a comparable effect on the English vocabulary. Understanding which words Shakespeare invented and why reveals both his creative genius and the extraordinary flexibility of English in the late 16th century.