Shakespeare Did NOT Invent “Puke”: The Semi-Scandalous Truth Behind English’s Greatest Word Inventor

Folks who are passionate about English and grammar love to talk about William Shakespeare. He’s called “The Bard”—not “a bard,” “THE Bard”—because he’s widely considered to be the greatest English poet (and one of the greatest storytellers) who ever lived.

Every decent blog about English has got to discuss Shakespeare’s contributions to the language, and that’s exactly what I intended to do with this post. The original title was “X English Words You Never Knew Were Invented by Shakespeare.” So imagine my surprise when I ran into this nasty bit of information on several credible websites: Shakespeare did NOT actually invent many of the words that are credited to him! People love to say that he invented thousands of words, but it turns out, that’s not the case.

This, of course, isn’t The Bard’s fault. He never claimed to have invented all of these words. And it’s also not necessarily the Oxford English Dictionary’s fault (even though many people do blame them). In fact, the whole thing is one big lexical misunderstanding.

What People THOUGHT

Originally, Shakespeare was credited with inventing several thousand words, including such common ones as alligator, bedroom, eyeball, gossip, hurry, manager, and puppy dog.

But how many of these several thousand words did Shakespeare ACTUALLY invent?

The TRUTH

Merriam-Webster did some digging, and they concluded that many of the words that Shakespeare apparently “invented“ had actually been invented long before The Bard used them in his plays. They state that the misunderstanding “appears to have come about through a misreading of the data in the Oxford English Dictionary” (OED).

The OED was first published in 1928, and one of its coolest features was that it listed the earliest known use of each word in the dictionary (i.e., when each word was apparently invented). For literally thousands of words, the earliest known use was cited as William Shakespeare’s works.

Understandably, readers assumed that this meant William Shakespeare invented all of these thousands of words. However, all this meant was that the editors of the OED hadn’t found an earlier use of the word—it didn’t mean that nobody else would either.

The historical citations in the OED were largely written by volunteers, and apparently those volunteers “preferred searching for words in Shakespeare, as opposed to the kinds of documents that might have earlier uses of his ‘coinages’—such as legal documents, court memoranda, and turgid ecclesiastical screeds.” Basically, the OED’s volunteers liked reading Shakespeare and didn’t want to read boring stuff; unfortunately, some of that boring stuff held earlier uses of words that they mistakenly credited Shakespeare for inventing.

Later, as people searched more thoroughly for the first use of these words, it was discovered that most of them were invented long before Shakespeare used them in his plays. Per Merriam-Webster, “The number of words for which Shakespeare is the first recorded source has shrunk dramatically.”

As the OED editors continue to track down the true origins of each word, the number of words that Shakespeare has invented has shrunk from the several thousand credited to him in 1928 to about 1,500 today.

Here are a few words that people love to SAY were invented by Shakespeare but actually WEREN’T:

• Inaudible
• Premeditated
• Eyeball
• Frugal
• Hurry
• Puke
• Bedazzle
• Deafening
• Uncomfortable
• Bold-faced
• Assassination

We can’t blame Shakespeare for this misunderstanding of course, and it must be said that there were still plenty of words and phrases that he DID invent!

Some Words and Phrases Shakespeare DID Invent

Here are a few phrases that Shakespeare really did invent (credit to Merriam-Webster for this list):

• Green-Eyed Monster (Othello, Act 3, Scene 3): caricature of jealousy
• In a Pickle (The Tempest, Act 5, Scene 1): experiencing a problematic or unfortunate situation
• Love Is Blind (The Merchant of Venice, Act 2, Scene 6): overlooking flaws in people we love
• Salad Days (Antony and Cleopatra, Act 1, Scene 5): youth or “the good old days”
• Wear My Heart on My Sleeve (Othello, Act 1, Scene 1): openly showing or expressing your feelings
• There’s the Rub (Hamlet, Act 3, Scene 1): that’s the problem
• Cruel to Be Kind (Hamlet, Act 3, Scene 4): a kindness that’s perceived as being painful
• Wild Goose Chase (Romeo and Juliet, Act 2, Scene 4): a meaningless search
• Dogs of War (Julius Caesar, Act 3, Scene 1): horrors of war
• Strange Bedfellows (The Tempest, Act 2, Scene 2): unlikely friends or alliances

Shakespeare’s contributions to English may not have included the invention of several thousand words, but inventing 1,500 words is nothing to scoff at! His impact on the language as a poet, playwright, and storyteller is still awe-inspiring. Next time you complain that you’re in a pickle or watch the Netflix show Love Is Blind, be sure to thank The Bard!

Sources:

• “10 Words Shakespeare Never Invented.” Merriam-Webster. Accessed December 23, 2024. https://www.merriam-webster.com/wordplay/words-shakespeare-didnt-invent.
• “10 Phrases Invented by Shakespeare.” Merriam-Webster. Accessed December 23, 2024. https://www.merriam-webster.com/wordplay/top-10-phrases-from-shakespeare.
• “Shakespeare’s Words.” Shakespeare Birthplace Trust. Accessed December 23, 2024. https://www.shakespeare.org.uk/explore-shakespeare/shakespedia/shakespeares-words/.