10 words William Shakespeare invented that we still use today

William Shakespeare was born 457 years ago today in Stratford-upon-Avon, England (and he also died on this day, 405 years ago in 1616).

He is, of course, widely regarded as one of the greatest writers to have ever lived, creating 37 plays, four poems and a famous collection of Sonnets during his lifetime.

His most notable works include tragedies such as Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, Macbeth and Othello and comedies such A Midsummer Night’s Dream and As You Like It.

He also created historical plays such as Henry IV part 1 and Richard II.

As well as all that, Shakespeare left a lasting impression on the world when it came to the English language. Incredibly, the playwright created more than 1,700 new words that we still use today.

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Here, to mark his birthday, we look at 10 different words that still regularly crop up in conversation, thanks to Shakespeare:

What hempen home-spuns have we swaggering here,/So near the cradle of the fairy queen?

Swagger - A Midsummer Night’s Dream, (Act III, Scene I) 1600.

O beware, my lord, of jealousy; It is the green-eyed monster which doth mock the meat it feeds on.

Green-Eyed - (to describe jealousy), The Merchant of Venice, (Act III, Scene II)1600.

And then he drew a dial from his poke,/And, looking on it with lack-lustre eye,/Says very wisely, ‘It is ten o’clock:Thus we may see,’ quoth he, ‘how the world wags.’

Lackluster- As You Like It, (Act II, Scene VII) 1616.

Then by your side no bed-room me deny, / For lying so, Hermia, I do not lie

Bedroom - A Midsummer Night’s Dream, (Act II, Scene II) 1600.

Go to a gossips’ feast and go with me;After so long grief, such festivity!

Gossip - The Comedy of Errors, (Act V, Scene I) 1594.

Time is like a fashionable host/That slightly shakes his party guest by the hand,/And with his arms outstretched, as he would fly,/Grasps in the corner:welcome ever smiles,/And farewell goes out sighing

Fashionable - Troilus and Cressida, (Act III, Scene III)1609.

A kissing traitor. How art thou proved Judas?

Kissing -Love’s Labour Lost, (Act V, Scene II) 1598.

Make Ossa like a wart! Nay, an thou’lt mouth, I’ll rant as well as thou. Damn it, show me what you’re going to do for her.

Rant- Hamlet, (Act V, Scene I) 1603.

And I forsooth in love! I that have been love’s whip,/A very beadle to a humorous sigh,/A critic, nay, a nightwatch constable.

Critic - Love’s Labour Lost, (Act III, Scene I) 1598.

Here’s a large mouth, indeed,/That spits forth death and mountains, rocks and seas,/Talks as familiarly of roaring lions/As maids of thirteen do of puppy-dogs!

Puppy-dog -King John, (Act II, Scene I) 1623.

Some may feel today that a writer such as Shakespeare has no connection to their everyday existence – but goodness knows what we would have named a bedroom, or how we would’ve described trendy clothes, if he hadn’t invented those words.

It’s worth remembering this fact the next time you have a gossip with your friends...