It’s been exactly 400 years since William Shakespeare made his final exeunt from this world, and we owe the incredible poet, playwright, and actor a lot in terms of the English language. The bard introduced some 1,700 words and new uses of words into our language during his short 52 years.

Most of Shakespeare’s works were developed between 1589 and 1613, including such infamous works as Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, Macbeth, and Romeo and Juliet. Each of these works included a totally unique storyline as well as some of the most commonly used words in modern English vocabulary.

William Shakespeare was the author of approximately 38 plays, 154 sonnets, two long narrative poems, and a few other verses. Most of his works were made famous while he was still living, but others weren't discovered until after his death. (Photo by Graeme Robertson/Getty Images) *** Local Caption ***

To say that William Shakespeare had a way with words is an understatement. It’s more accurate to say that he paved the way into a broader, more prolific language that we know today. In honor of the 400th anniversary of William’s death, let’s look at 400 of the most commonplace words Shakespeare added to our English vocabulary.

Academe Accessible Accommodation Accused Addiction Admirable Advertising Aerial Airless Amazement Anchovy Arch-villain Arouse Assassinate Assassination Auspicious Bachelorship Backing Bandit Barber Barefaced Baseless Batty Beached Beachy Bedazzle Bedroom Belly Belongings Besmirch Bet Birthplace Black-faced Blanket Bloodstained Bloodsucking Blushing Blusterer Bold-faced Braggartism Bump Buzzer Caked Candleholder Castigate Catlike Characterless Cheap Chimney Clangor Chapped Church-like Circumstantial Cold-blooded Coldhearted Compact Comply Compromise Consanguineous Control Countless Courtship Critic Critical Cruel-hearted Cudgel Dalmatian Dapple Dauntless Dawn Day’s work Deaths-head Deafening Defeat Denote Depositary Dewdrop Dexterously Disgraceful Dishearten Dislocate Distasteful Distrustful Dog-weary Domineering Downstairs Drugged Dwindle East Indies Educate Elbow Embrace Employer Employment Enfranchisement Engagement Enmesh Enrapt Enthrone Epileptic Equivocal Eventful Excitement Expedience Expertness Exposure Eyeball Eye-drop Eyewink Fair-faced Fairyland Fanged Farmhouse Far-off Fashionable Fashionmonger Fathomless Fat-witted Featureless Fiendlike Fitful Fixture Flawed Flirt-gill Flowery Fly-bitten Footfall Foppish Foregone Fortune-teller Foul mouthed Franciscan Freezing Fretful Frugal Full-grown Full-hearted Futurity Gallantry Garden house Generous Gentlefolk Gloomy Glow Gnarl Gnarled Go-between Gossip Grass plot Gravel-blind Gray-eyed Green-eyed Grief-shot Grime Grovel Gust Half-blooded Hedge-pig Hell-born Hinge Hint Hobnail Homely Hornbook Hostile Hot-blooded Howl Humor Hunchbacked Hurly Hurried Hurry Idle-headed Ill-tempered Ill-used Impartial Impede Import Inaudible Inauspicious Indirection Indistinguishable Inducement Informal Inlay Instate Investment Invitation Invulnerable Jaded Juiced Kitchen-wench Label Lackluster Ladybird Lament Land-rat Lapse Laughable Leaky Leapfrog Loggerhead Lonely Long-legged Love letter Luggage Lustrous Madcap Madwoman Majestic Malignancy Manager Marketable Marriage bed Metamorphose Militarist Mimic Misgiving Misquote Mockable Money’s worth Monumental Moonbeam Mortifying Motionless Mountaineer Muddy Multitudinous Neglect Negotiate Never-ending New-fangled Newsmonger Nimble-footed Noiseless Obscene Obsequiously Ode Offenseless Olympian Operate Outbreak Outsell Out-talk Out-villain Outweigh Overblown Over credulous Overgrowth Overpay Overpower Overrate Overview Pageantry Palate Pale-faced Pander Paternal Pebbled Pedant Pedantical Pendulous Perplex Petition Pignut Pious Please-man Plumpy Posture Prayerbook Premeditated Priceless Profitless Promethean Protester Published Puke Puking Puppy-dog Pushpin On purpose Quarrelsome In question Radiance Rant Rascally Rawboned Reclusive Reinforcement Reliance Remorseless Reprieve Resolve Restraint Retirement Reverb Revolting Reword Rival Roadway Roguery Rose-cheeked Rose-lipped Rumination Sanctimonious Sate Satisfying Savage Savagery Schoolboy Scrubbed Scuffle Seamy Secure Self-abuse Shipwrecked Shooting star Shudder Silliness Sire Skim milk Slugabed Sneak Soft-hearted Spectacled Spleenful Sportive Squabble Stealthy Stillborn Subcontract Successful Suffocating Sully Summit Supervise Swagger Tardiness Time-honored Title page Torture Traditional Tranquil Transcendence Trippingly Unaccommodated Unappeased Unchanging Unclaimed Uncomfortable Uncurl Undervalue Undress Unearthy Uneducated Unfrequented Ungoverned Unhappy Unhelpful Unhidden Unlicensed Unmitigated Unmusical Unpolluted Unpremeditated Unpublished Unquestionable Unquestioned Unreal Unrivaled Unscarred Unscratched Unsex Unsolicited Unsullied Unswayed Unvarnished Unwillingness Upstairs Unsolicited Unvarnished Useful Useless Valueless Varied Vaulting Vulnerable Watchdog Water drop Water fly Well-behaved Well-bred Well-educated Well-read Widen Wormhole Worn out Worthless Yelping Zany

Today, Shakespeare's writings are among the most commonly read works in the history of English. His overarching impact on the written word still entertains and enlightens people in contemporary times, which is something very few deceased authors can relate to. (Photo by Graeme Robertson/Getty Images)

William Shakespeare is unquestionably one of the most impactful writers in the history of the English language. Thanks to William’s inventiveness and dedication to his work, English is one of the most complex and intricate languages on the Earth today.

[Image via Hulton Archive/Getty Images]