How Shakespeare Changed the English Language

Ever found yourself in a “pickle”? Sent a rival on a “wild-goose chase”? Or refused to “budge an inch”? If so, you’ve been quoting William Shakespeare. It’s easy to think of the Bard as a lofty literary figure, a name reserved for dusty textbooks and daunting theatre productions. But the truth is, Shakespeare’s influence is so deeply woven into the fabric of modern English that we speak his words every single day, often without realizing it.

His impact wasn’t just a matter of writing beautiful poetry; he was a linguistic innovator who stretched, twisted, and expanded the English language in ways that still resonate over 400 years later. Let’s delve into the ways Shakespeare became one of the most significant figures in the history of English.

The Great Word-Inventor

You’ve probably heard the astonishing claim: Shakespeare invented over 1,700 words. While this number is impressive, it’s important to understand what “invented” means in this context. For most of these words, Shakespeare’s plays and sonnets represent their first recorded use in writing. Was he the first person to ever utter the word “eyeball”? Maybe, or maybe he was just the first to write it down in a work that survived.

Regardless, he was a master of neologism—the coining of new words. He needed a fresh and dynamic vocabulary to capture the complex emotions and situations of his characters, and if the right word didn’t exist, he simply created it. He did this in several clever ways:

• Turning Nouns into Verbs: A hallmark of English flexibility, Shakespeare was a champion of “verbing.” He took a simple noun and used it as an action. Think of a dog swaggering across a stage or a character who was elbowed out of the way.
• Adding Prefixes and Suffixes: He artfully used prefixes like un- (unreal, undress, unhand) and suffixes like -ful (useful) and -less (useless) to create new shades of meaning.
• Compounding Words: He smashed two words together to create a new, more descriptive one. This gave us evocative terms like watchdog, blood-stained, and cold-blooded.
• Borrowing from Other Languages: He was not shy about adopting words from Latin or French if they suited his needs.

The sheer number of his coinages that have become commonplace is staggering. Here’s just a small taste of the words we first see in Shakespeare’s writing:

• Addiction
• Bedazzled
• Critic
• Dwindle
• Eyeball
• Fashionable
• Gossip
• Lonely
• Manager
• Puking
• Swagger
• Zany

Phrases for the Ages

Beyond single words, Shakespeare’s genius for turning a phrase has given us a treasure trove of idioms and expressions. These phrases were so memorable, so perfectly crafted to describe a universal human experience, that they leaped off the stage and into our collective vocabulary. You’re not just speaking English; you’re channeling Hamlet or The Tempest.

Consider how many of these are part of your daily lexicon:

• “Break the ice” – The Taming of the Shrew
• “In a pickle” – The Tempest
• “Wild-goose chase” – Romeo and Juliet
• “Heart of gold” – Henry V
• “For goodness’ sake” – Henry VIII
• “The be-all and the end-all” – Macbeth
• “Lie low” – Much Ado About Nothing
• “All that glitters is not gold” – A variation of “All that glisters is not gold” from The Merchant of Venice.

These phrases survived because they are miniature pieces of poetry. They are vivid, metaphorical, and emotionally resonant, providing a linguistic shortcut to express a complex idea. Why say “I’m in a difficult and awkward situation” when you can simply say you’re “in a pickle”?

A Grammatical Game-Changer

Shakespeare’s influence wasn’t just lexical; it was grammatical. He played with sentence structure and word functions with a freedom that contemporary writers could only envy. He famously turned nouns into verbs (“to grace me”, “he godded me”), adjectives into nouns, and adverbs into adjectives.

This playful bending of grammatical rules wasn’t just for show. It served the rhythm of his iambic pentameter, added emphasis, and created a sense of linguistic dynamism. While we don’t speak in Shakespearian syntax today (thankfully!), his bold experimentation demonstrated the incredible elasticity of the English language. He proved that its rules could be bent for dramatic and poetic effect, a legacy that has empowered writers ever since.

Why Did His Language Stick? The Perfect Storm

So, why was Shakespeare so uniquely influential? It was a combination of genius meeting a pivotal moment in history—a perfect linguistic storm.

1. A Language in Flux: Shakespeare wrote during the Early Modern English period. The language was not yet fully standardized. There was no universally accepted dictionary or grammar guide, giving him immense creative freedom.
2. The Power of Print: The printing press was becoming more widespread. For the first time, his plays could be printed in quartos and folios, standardizing his coinages and distributing them far and wide.
3. The Popularity of Theatre: Theatre was the mass media of its day, enjoyed by everyone from royalty to commoners. People from all walks of life heard his language, absorbed it, and repeated it.

In essence, Shakespeare’s work acted as a massive, popular, and influential dictionary and style guide for a language that was just coming into its own. He didn’t just use the language; he helped to build it.

The next time you call someone a ‘critic’ or tell a friend there’s “method in my madness,” take a moment to appreciate the ghost of a playwright standing behind you. You’re not just speaking modern English—you’re speaking Shakespeare.