How Shakespeare Shaped the English Language We Speak Today

Few figures in history have influenced the English language as profoundly as William Shakespeare. More than 400 years after his death, Shakespeare’s words, phrases, and stylistic innovations continue to shape the way we speak, write, and even think. His works are not just relics of Elizabethan drama but living monuments that resonate in everyday conversation, literature, and pop culture.

In this article, we’ll explore how Shakespeare transformed English—from inventing words and idioms still in common use, to shaping grammar and style, to influencing global communication. By the end, you’ll see that Shakespeare didn’t just write plays; he gave English a new soul.

1. The State of English Before Shakespeare

To appreciate Shakespeare’s impact, it’s important to understand what English looked like before him.

• Middle English (1150–1500): The language of Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales was rich but inconsistent. Spelling, grammar, and vocabulary were highly variable.
• Early Modern English (1500–1700): The period of the Renaissance, printing press, and increasing literacy. English was in transition, borrowing from Latin, French, Italian, and Spanish.

When Shakespeare began writing in the late 16th century, English lacked a fixed vocabulary and standardised grammar. Dictionaries were scarce, and many words were still being borrowed or invented. It was the perfect environment for a linguistic pioneer to experiment—and Shakespeare embraced the opportunity.

2. Shakespeare the Wordsmith: Inventing New Vocabulary

Shakespeare is credited with introducing over 1,700 new words into English. While not all of these can be definitively proven as his inventions (some may have simply been first recorded in his works), his influence in popularising them is undeniable.

Examples of Shakespearean Coinages:

• Lonely (Coriolanus)
• Gossip (as a verb, The Comedy of Errors)
• Assassination (Macbeth)
• Swagger (A Midsummer Night’s Dream)
• Uncomfortable (Romeo and Juliet)
• Fashionable (Troilus and Cressida)
• Generous (Hamlet)

These words were not just linguistic experiments. They filled real gaps in the English vocabulary of the time. “Lonely,” for example, captured the emotional weight of solitude in a way that no other word did.

By creatively combining prefixes and suffixes, turning nouns into verbs, and borrowing from other languages, Shakespeare expanded English’s expressive power.

3. Phrases and Idioms Still Alive Today

Even more than individual words, Shakespeare’s phrases seeped into everyday English. Many of these are so common that most people don’t even realise their origin.

Common Idioms from Shakespeare:

• “Break the ice” (The Taming of the Shrew)
• “Wild-goose chase” (Romeo and Juliet)
• “In a pickle” (The Tempest)
• “Wear my heart upon my sleeve” (Othello)
• “It’s Greek to me” (Julius Caesar)
• “Fair play” (The Tempest)
• “Good riddance” (Troilus and Cressida)

These phrases survive because they’re vivid, memorable, and adaptable. They express universal human experiences—confusion, frustration, excitement, honesty—in ways that still resonate.

4. Influence on Grammar and Style

Shakespeare lived at a time when grammar rules were fluid. He took advantage of this freedom, bending and reshaping English in ways that left a lasting mark.

• Word order flexibility: Shakespeare often inverted the usual subject-verb-object order for rhythm or emphasis. For example: “Lives there who loves his pain?”
• Creative compounds: He fused words to create fresh concepts: “bloodstained,” “coldhearted,” “barefaced.”
• Poetic contractions: To fit iambic pentameter, he played with shortened forms like “o’er” (over) and “e’en” (even). These rhythmic experiments enriched the musicality of English.
• Rhetorical mastery: Shakespeare popularised devices like antithesis (“to be or not to be”), metaphor, and wordplay, embedding them into the DNA of English literature.

While later grammarians would codify rules, Shakespeare’s stylistic range set a precedent for creativity within structure.

5. Human Emotion in Language

Perhaps Shakespeare’s greatest gift was not invention, but expression. His works captured the depths of human psychology in ways that changed how English conveys emotion.

• Love: From the sonnets to Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare gave English its most enduring love language. “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?” remains a touchstone for poetic romance.
• Ambition and power: Macbeth’s soliloquies (“vaulting ambition”) gave words to the hunger for dominance.
• Jealousy: Othello’s “green-eyed monster” is now the go-to metaphor for envy.
• Existential doubt: Hamlet’s “To be, or not to be” still articulates universal human uncertainty.

By dramatising inner conflict and raw emotion, Shakespeare enriched English with a vocabulary of the human soul.

6. The Printing Press and Shakespeare’s Reach

Shakespeare’s linguistic influence was magnified by technology. The printing press had only been in England for about a century when his plays were first performed. The First Folio (1623) ensured his works circulated widely, fixing his words in print and helping to standardise English.

At a time when regional dialects varied greatly, Shakespeare’s works—read and performed across England—helped unify the language.

7. Shakespeare and the Global English We Speak

Today, English is a global lingua franca. Shakespeare’s contributions ripple across continents, not just Britain. His words entered the bloodstream of English literature, influencing authors like Dickens, Melville, Joyce, and beyond.

In the United States, Shakespeare was central to education from colonial times onward. In India, Africa, and Australia, his works became part of English-language schooling during colonial expansion. As English spread worldwide, so too did Shakespeare’s phrases and idioms.

8. Pop Culture: Shakespeare in Disguise

You don’t need to pick up a 400-year-old play to hear Shakespeare. His influence is everywhere in modern entertainment.

• Movies and TV: From The Lion King (a retelling of Hamlet) to 10 Things I Hate About You (The Taming of the Shrew), Shakespeare’s stories and language are constantly repackaged.
• Music: Artists from Bob Dylan to Taylor Swift echo Shakespearean phrasing in their lyrics.
• Everyday speech: Whether someone says they had a “heart of gold” or were “faint-hearted,” they’re quoting Shakespeare without knowing it.

This cultural recycling ensures Shakespeare’s linguistic fingerprints remain fresh.

9. Critics and Counterpoints

Some scholars argue Shakespeare’s linguistic reputation is exaggerated—that he wasn’t the sole creator of many words or phrases but simply the first to record them. Others note that many contemporaries were also experimenting with English.

Yet Shakespeare’s unique achievement lies in popularisation. He put new words in the mouths of unforgettable characters, ensuring they stuck in the public imagination. A word used once in a forgotten pamphlet might disappear; a word spoken by Hamlet lived forever.

10. Why Shakespeare Still Matters for English Today

Shakespeare reminds us of the flexibility of language. He shows us that words are not fixed; they can be bent, stretched, and reshaped to capture new ideas. In today’s world of memes, hashtags, and evolving slang, Shakespeare’s inventiveness feels strikingly modern.

His works also teach us about the power of storytelling. By embedding new words and idioms within compelling narratives, Shakespeare ensured they resonated beyond the page.

Summary: Shakespeare’s Living Legacy

The English language we speak today—whether in Sydney, London, New York, or Mumbai—is richer because of William Shakespeare. His creativity expanded vocabulary, his idioms filled speech, his style influenced literature, and his emotional depth gave English new expressive power.

More than four centuries on, we still “break the ice,” go on “wild-goose chases,” and wrestle with the “green-eyed monster.” Every time we do, we’re echoing the Bard of Avon.

Shakespeare didn’t just shape English; he made it human, flexible, and timeless. That’s why his words continue to live, breathe, and inspire in the 21st century.

---

Some of our other posts