Shakespeare appears as the first documented user of more words than any other writer, making it convenient to assume that he was the creator of all of those words. This famous dictionary (often called the OED for short) is famous, in part, because it provides incredibly thorough definitions of words, but also because it identifies the first time each word actually appeared in written English. So who’s to blame for the uncertainty around the number of words Shakespeare invented? For starters, we can blame the Oxford English Dictionary. How Many Words Did Shakespeare Invent?ġ700! My, what a perfectly round number! Such a large and perfectly round number is misleading at best, and is more likely just wrong-there is in fact a bunch of debate about the accuracy of this number. By a long shot.īut what does it mean to “invent” words? How many words did Shakespeare invent? What kind of words? And which words are those exactly? Rather than just listing all the words Shakespeare invented, this post digs deeper into the how and the why (or “wherefore”) of Shakespeare’s literary creations. And he invented more words-words that continue to shape the English language-than anyone else. But while all these people invented things, it’s possible to invent something even more fundamental. Hedy Lamar, meanwhile, may have been a Hollywood star but a new book makes clear her real legacy is in inventing the foundations of encryption. Steve Jobs is considered a saint in Silicon Valley. Thomas Edison is held up as a tinkering genius.

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