How many words did Shakespeare invent?

Answer 1

According to the Folger Shakespeare Library's Shakespeare FAQ:

"In *Brush Up Your Shakespeare!* (Harper), author Michael Macrone explains that it's not always easy to determine who first coined a word, but notes that the Oxford English Dictionary attributes . . . some 500. . . to Shakespeare"
http://www.folger.edu/template.cfm?cid=862

Take note of the difficulty mentioned. The first appearance of a word in print is not necessarily its creation, and many things have been written or printed that we no longer have any copies of

Also, Shakespeare wrote in a time of rapid change, when MANY were adding words to the language, borrowing them from a variety of sources: Authors like Spenser and Marlowe were also busy at it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_English_words_invented_by_Shakespeare#Changes_in_English_at_the_time.

One of the mistakes often made in counting up Shakespeare's words is that people may study writers like Marlowe and Spenser, but somehow overlook the other single greatest contributor to the shape (including the vocabulary) or early Modern English -- William Tyndale, whose translating of the Bible into English about 70 years before Shakespeare's plays formed the foundation for a whole generation of Bible translations, including the King James Version. (I've seen a number of words and expressions attributed to W.S. that are found already in Tyndale.)

Answer 2

Shakespeare has invented 29,066 words for the English language. An average person uses 2000 words in the English language daily.

Answer 3

Two--iambic pentameter.

Answer 4

He coined LOTS....