In all of his work - the plays, the sonnets and the narrative poems - Shakespeare uses 17,677 words. Of those 1,700 were first used by Shakespeare. Writers often invent words, either by creating new forms of existing words or coining new words outright, because they are unable to find the exact word they require in the existing language. Shakespeare is the foremost of those. He was by far the most important individual influence on the development of the modern English that we speak today.
A Few of the Words Shakespeare Coined
accommodation
aerial
amazement
apostrophe
assassination
auspicious
baseless
bloody
bump
castigate
changeful
clangor
control (noun)
countless
courtship
critic
critical
dexterously
dishearten
dislocate
dwindle
eventful
exposure
fitful
frugal
generous
gloomy
gnarled
hurry
impartial
inauspicious
indistinguishable
invulnerable
lapse
laughable
lonely
majestic
misplaced
monumental
multitudinous
obscene
palmy
perusal
pious
premeditated
radiance
reliance
road
sanctimonious
seamy
sportive
submerge
suspicious
A Few Phrases Shakespeare Coined
barefaced
fancy-free
catch a cold
disgraceful conduct
elbowroom
fair play
green eyed monster
heartsick
hot-blooded
housekeeping
lackluster
leapfrog
long-haired
pitched battle
clothes make the man
method in his madness
to thine own self be true
towering passion
ministering angel
dog will have his day
frailty, thy name is woman
brevity is the soul of wit
mind's eye
primrose path
it smells to heaven
the lady doth protest too much
witching time of the night
it's Greek to me
live long day
breathe one's last
heart of gold
give the devil his due
too much of a good thing
naked truth
foregone conclusion
break the ice
strange bedfellows
wear one's heart on one's sleeve
eat out of house and home
be all and end all
more sinned against than sinning
one fell swoop
the milk of human kindness
the course of true love never did run smooth
fancy-free
catch a cold
disgraceful conduct
elbowroom
fair play
green eyed monster
heartsick
hot-blooded
housekeeping
lackluster
leapfrog
long-haired
pitched battle
clothes make the man
method in his madness
to thine own self be true
towering passion
ministering angel
dog will have his day
frailty, thy name is woman
brevity is the soul of wit
mind's eye
primrose path
it smells to heaven
the lady doth protest too much
witching time of the night
it's Greek to me
live long day
breathe one's last
heart of gold
give the devil his due
too much of a good thing
naked truth
foregone conclusion
break the ice
strange bedfellows
wear one's heart on one's sleeve
eat out of house and home
be all and end all
more sinned against than sinning
one fell swoop
the milk of human kindness
the course of true love never did run smooth
Adapted from NoSweatShakespeare.com
