In all his plays, Shakespeare reveals his interest for the evolving ideas, words and literary traditions of his time. It is widely assumed that Shakespeare himself introduced more words into English than all the other writers of his time combined. However, calculating the number of words Shakespeare coined is difficult. First, one must define the meaning of coinage. Should variations of existing words or existing words to which he gave new meaning be counted? Should one consider compound words? Also, one must take into account that a word might be considered of Shakespearean origins only because his works have been more thoroughly scrutinized than others of his time. A word might also have existed in oral communication long before Shakespeare set it to paper.

Shakespeare’s own contribution to the expansion of the English language was noticed as early as 1598, when commentator Francis Meres, applauding English literature in relation to the classics, placed Shakespeare among the writers who had dignified the language. Later in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, critics and scholars began to doubt whether Shakespeare had a significant effect on the expansion of English vocabulary. This is mainly based on the neoclassical image of him as a poor Latinist. In the early twentieth century, there was an overreaction to this, so that one critic credited William Shakespeare with having coined nearly 10,000 words.

Although it is often difficult, if not often impossible, to determine the true origin of a word, for the following words, the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) lists a quotation from Shakespeare as its earliest example. However, proceeding from this to the conclusion that Shakespeare invented the following words or additional senses is dubious at best. The editors of the OED did not search through every surviving text for every word to find the earliest quotation. Not only would this be an impossible task before the digitization of all surviving texts, but they were interested in quotations that were illustrative of the word's meaning. Furthermore, in their reading programme, they explicitly instructed their volunteer readers to search in the Elizabethan period for words not in the concordance to Shakespeare. The earliest citations in the OED by Shakespeare should not be taken as earliest usages but rather as examples of editorial bias.  

Given the difficulty of tracing a word's true origin, it is probable that not all these words were invented by Shakespeare. Although Shakespeare may have not invented all these following words, most of the earliest citations for them in the OED are from Shakespeare. This fact means little about their origin, as stated above.

• Academe
• accessible
• accommodation
• addiction (Shakespeare meant “tendency”)
• admirable
• aerial (Shakespeare meant “of the air”)
• airless
• amazement
• anchovy
• arch-villain
• to arouse
• assassination
• auspicious
• bachelorship (“bachelorhood”)
• to barber
• barefaced
• baseless
• batty (Shakespeare meant “bat-like”)
• beachy (“beach-covered”)
• to bedabble
• to bedazzle
• bedroom (Shakespeare meant “room in bed”)
• to belly (“to swell”)
• belongings
• to besmirch
• to bet
• to bethump
• birthplace
• black-faced
• to blanket
• bloodstained
• bloodsucking
• blusterer
• bodikins (“little bodies”)
• bold-faced
• braggartism
• brisky
• broomstaff (“broom-handle”)
• bubble
• budger (“one who budges”)
• bump (as a noun)
• buzzer (Shakespeare meant “tattle-tale”)
• to cake
• candle holder
• to canopy
• to cater (as “to bring food”)
• to castigate
• catlike
• to champion
• characterless
• cheap (in pejorative sense of “vulgar”)
• chimney-top
• chopped (Shakespeare meant “chapped”)
• churchlike
• circumstantial
• clutch
• cold-blooded
• coldhearted
• colourful
• compact (as noun “agreement”)
• to comply
• to compromise (Shakespeare meant “to agree”)
• consanguineous (related by blood)
• control (as a noun)
• coppernose (“a kind of acne”)
• countless
• courtship
• to cow (as “intimidate”)
• critical
• cruelhearted
• to cudgel
• Dalmatian
• to dapple
  
• dauntless
  
• dawn (as a noun)
  
• day’s work
  
• deaths-head
  
• defeat (the noun)
  
• to denote
  
• depositary (as “trustee”)
  
• dewdrop
  
• dexterously (Shakespeare spelled it “dexteriously”)
  
• disgraceful (Shakespeare meant “unbecoming”)
  
• to dishearten
  
• to dislocate
  
• distasteful (Shakespeare meant “showing disgust”)
  
• distrustful
  
• dog-weary
  
• doit (a Dutch coin: “a pittance”)
  
• domineering
  
• downstairs
  
• East Indies
  
• to educate
  
• to elbow
  
• embrace (as a noun)
  
• employer
  
• employment
  
• enfranchisement
  
• engagement
  
• to enmesh
  
• enrapt
  
• to enthrone
  
• epileptic
  
• equivocal
  
• eventful
  
• excitement (Shakespeare meant “incitement”)
  
• expedience
  
• expertness
  
• exposure
  
• eyeball
  
• eyedrop (Shakespeare meant as a “tear”)
  
• eyewink
  
• face (meaning the dial of a clock)
  
• fair-faced
  
• fairyland
  
• fanged
  
• fap (“intoxicated”)
  
• farmhouse
  
• far-off
  
• fashionable
  
• fashionmonger
  
• fathomless (Shakespeare meant “too huge to be encircled by one’s arms”)
  
• fat-witted
  
• featureless (Shakespeare meant “ugly”)
  
• fiendlike
  
• to fishify (“turn into fish”)
  
• fitful
  
• fixture (Shakespeare meant “fixing” or setting “firmly in place”)
  
• fleshment (“the excitement of first success”)
  
• flirt-gill (a “floozy”)
  
• flowery (“full of florid expressions”)
  
• fly-bitten
  
• footfall
  
• foppish
  
• foregone
  
• fortune-teller
  
• foul mouthed
  
• Franciscan
  
• freezing (as an adjective)
  
• fretful
  
• frugal
  
• full-grown
  
• fullhearted
  
• futurity
  
• gallantry (Shakespeare meant “gallant people”)
  
• garden house
  
• generous (Shakespeare meant “gentle,” “noble”)
  
• gentlefolk
  
•  glow (as a noun)
  
• to glutton
  
• to gnarl
  
• go-between
  
• to gossip (Shakespeare meant “to make oneself at home like a gossip—that is, a kindred spirit or a fast friend”)
  
• grass plot
  
• gravel-blind
  
• gray-eyed
  
• green-eyed
  
• grief-shot (as “sorrow-stricken”)
  
• grime (as a noun)
  
• to grovel
  
• gust (as a “wind-blast”)
  
• half-blooded
  
• to happy (“to gladden”)
  
• heartsore
  
• hedge-pig
  
• hell-born
  
• to hinge
  
• hint (as a noun)
  
• hobnail (as a noun)
  
• homely (sense “ugly”)
  
• honey-tongued
  
• hornbook (an “alphabet tablet”)
  
• hostile
  
• hot-blooded
  
• howl (as a noun)
  
• to humor
  
• hunchbacked
  
• hurly (as a “commotion”)
  
• to hurry
  
• idle-headed
  
• ill-tempered
  
• ill-used
  
• impartial
  
• to impede
  
• imploratory (“solicitor”)
  
• import (the noun: “importance” or “significance”)
  
• inaudible
  
• inauspicious
  
• incarnadine (verb: "to make red with blood"; used in Macbeth)
  
• indirection
  
• indistinguishable
  
• inducement
  
• informal (Shakespeare meant “unformed” or “irresolute”)
  
• to inhearse (to “load into a hearse”)
  
• to inlay
  
• to instate (Shakespeare, who spelled it “enstate,” meant “to endow”)
  
• inventorially (“in detail”)
  
• investment (Shakespeare meant as “a piece of clothing”)
  
• invitation
  
• invulnerable
  
• jaded (Shakespeare seems to have meant “contemptible”)
  
• juiced (“juicy”)
  
• keech (“solidified fat”)
  
• kickie-wickie (a derogatory term for a wife)
  
• kitchen-wench
  
• lackluster
  
• ladybird
  
• lament
  
• land-rat
  
• to lapse
  
• laughable
  
• leaky
  
• leapfrog
  
• lewdster
  
• loggerhead (Shakespeare meant “blockhead”)
  
• lonely (Shakespeare meant “lone”)
  
• long-legged
  
• love letter
  
• lustihood
  
• lustrous
  
• madcap
  
• madwoman
  
• majestic
  
• malignancy (Shakespeare meant “malign tendency”)
  
• manager
  
• marketable
  
• marriage bed
  
• militarist (Shakespeare meant “soldier”)
  
• mimic (as a noun)
  
• misgiving (sense “uneasiness”)
  
• misquote
  
• mockable (as “deserving ridicule”)
  
• money’s worth (“money-worth” dates from the 14th century)
  
• monumental
  
• moonbeam
  
• mortifying (as an adjective)
  
• motionless
  
• mountaineer (Shakespeare meant as “mountain-dweller”)
  
• to muddy
  
• neglect (as a noun)
  
• to negotiate
  
• never-ending
  
• newsmonger
  
• nimble-footed
  
• noiseless
  
• nook-shotten (“full of corners or angles”)
  
• to numb
  
• obscene (Shakespeare meant “revolting”)
  
• ode
  
• to offcap (to “doff one’s cap”)
  
• offenseful (meaning “sinful”)
  
• offenseless (“unoffending”)
  
• Olympian (Shakespeare meant “Olympic”)
  
• to operate
  
• oppugnancy (“antagonism”)
  
• outbreak
  
• to outdare
  
• to outfrown
  
• to out-Herod
  
• to outscold
  
• to outsell (Shakespeare meant “to exceed in value”)
  
• to out-talk
  
• to out-villain
  
• to outweigh
  
• overblown (Shakespeare meant “blown over”)
  
• overcredulous
  
• overgrowth
  
• to overpay
  
• to overpower
  
• to overrate
  
• overview (Shakespeare meant as “supervision”)
  
• pageantry
  
• to palate (Shakespeare meant “to relish”)
  
• pale-faced
  
• to pander
  
• passado (a kind of sword-thrust)
  
• paternal
  
• pebbled
  
• pedant (Shakespeare meant a schoolmaster)
  
• pedantical
  
• pendulous (Shakespeare meant “hanging over”)
  
• to perplex
  
• to petition
  
• pignut (a type of tuber)
  
• pious
  
• please-man (a “yes-man”)
  
• plumpy (“plump”)
  
• posture (Shakespeare seems to have meant “position” or “positioning”)
  
• prayerbook
  
• priceless
  
• profitless
  
• Promethean
  
• protester (Shakespeare meant “one who affirms”)
  
• published (Shakespeare meant “commonly recognized”)
  
• to puke
  
• puppy-dog
  
• pushpin (Shakespeare was referring to a children’s game)
  
• on purpose
  
• quarrelsome
  
• in question (as in “the … in question”)
  
• radiance
  
• to rant
  
• rascally
  
• rawboned (meaning “very gaunt”)
  
• reclusive
  
• refractory
  
• reinforcement (Shakespeare meant “renewed force”)
  
• reliance
  
• remorseless
  
• reprieve (as a noun)
  
• resolve (as a noun)
  
• restoration
  
• restraint (as “reserve”)
  
• retirement
  
• to reverb (“to re-echo”)
  
• revokement (“revocation”)
  
• revolting (Shakespeare meant as “rebellious”)
  
• to reword (Shakespeare meant “repeat”)
  
• ring carrier (a “go-between”)
  
• to rival (meaning to “compete”).
  
• roadway
  
• roguery
  
• rose-cheeked
  
• rose-lipped
  
• rumination
  
• ruttish (horny)
  
• one's Salad Days
  
• sanctimonious
  
• to sate
  
• satisfying (as an adjective)
  
• savage (as “uncivilized”)
  
• savagery
  
• schoolboy
  
• scrimer (“a fence”)
  
• scrubbed (Shakespeare meant “stunted”)
  
• scuffle
  
• seamy (“seamed”) and seamy-side (Shakespeare meant “under-side of a garment”)
  
• to secure (Shakespeare meant “to obtain security”)
  
• self-abuse (Shakespeare meant “self-deception”)
  
• shipwrecked (Shakespeare spelled it “shipwrackt”)
  
• shooting star
  
• shudder (as a noun)
  
• silk stocking
  
• silliness
  
• to sire
  
• skimble-skamble (“senseless”)
  
• skim milk (in quarto; “skim’d milk” in the Folio)
  
• slugabed (one who sleeps in)
  
• to sneak
  
• soft-hearted
  
• spectacled
  
• spilth (“something spilled”)
  
• spleenful
  
• sportive
  
• to squabble
  
• stealthy
  
• stillborn
  
• to subcontract (Shakespeare meant “to remarry”)
  
• successful
  
• suffocating (as an adjective)
  
• to sully
  
• to supervise (Shakespeare meant “to peruse”)
  
• to swagger
  
• tanling (someone with a tan)
  
• tardiness
  
• time-honored
  
• title page
  
• tortive (“twisted”)
  
• to torture
  
• traditional (Shakespeare meant “tradition-bound”)
  
• tranquil
  
• transcendence
  
• trippingly
  
• unaccommodated
  
• unappeased
  
• to unbosom
  
• unchanging
  
• unclaimed
  
• uncomfortable (sense “disquieting”)
  
• to uncurl
  
• to undervalue (Shakespeare meant “to judge as of lesser value”)
  
• to undress
  
• unearthy
  
• uneducated
  
• to unfool
  
• unfrequented
  
• ungoverned
  
• ungrown
  
• to unhappy
  
• unhelpful
  
• unhidden
  
• unlicensed
  
• unmitigated
  
• unmusical
  
• to un muzzle
  
• unpolluted
  
• unpremeditated
  
• unpublished (Shakespeare meant “undisclosed”)
  
• unquestionable (Shakespeare meant “impatient”)
  
• unquestioned
  
• unreal
  
• unrivaled
  
• unscarred
  
• unscratched
  
• to unsex (verb: "to [in its context] make a woman unwomanly (that she might do deeds of men (murder)"; said by Lady Macbeth, in her husband's play)
  
• unsolicited
  
• unsullied
  
• unswayed (Shakespeare meant “unused” and “ungoverned”)
  
• untutored
  
• unvarnished
  
• unwillingness (sense “reluctance”)
  
• upstairs
  
• useful
  
• useless
  
• valueless
  
• varied (as an adjective)
  
• varletry
  
• vasty
  
• vulnerable
  
• watchdog
  
• water drop
  
• water fly
  
• weird
  
• well-behaved
  
• well-bred
  
• well-educated
  
• well-read
  
• to widen (Shakespeare meant “to open wide”)
  
• wittolly (“contentedly a cuckhold”)
  
• worn out (Shakespeare meant “dearly departed”)
  
• wry-necked (“crook-necked”)
  
• yelping (as an adjective)
  
• zany (a clown’s sidekick or a mocking mimic)

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