A Word from “The Bard”

Shakespeare is credited with adding some 1500 - 2000 words to the English language. This list
includes words that first appeared in print in Shakespeare’s writing. Some are believed to have
been created by Shakespeare himself. Others were in use before he published them for the
first time, or are words that he adapted from words already in use or from other languages.

mountaineer
fortune-teller fairy land
bandit worthless eventful
watch-dog long-legged bedazzled
schoolboy pale-faced eyesore
football hot-blooded lackluster
wormhole flea-bitten outbreak
horn-book green-eyed quarrelsome
shooting star upstairs radiance
moonbeam downstairs reclusive
dew-drop skim milk seamy-side
glow obscene stealthy
dawn hot blooded submerge
alligator epileptic time-honored
lady-bird wormhole undervalued
luggage household unmitigated
eyeball laughing stock unreal
love-letter naked truth well-read
puppy-dog relationship whirligig
farmhouse advertising denote
bedroom assassination gossip
birthplace dishearten rant
enmesh

Lesson Connection: A Way With Words

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Updated June 2021