Words Shakespeare used that are no longer common

Some of the more common English words and meanings in Shakespeare that are no longer common (in 2016 in the north-eastern US):

• afore – in front.
• alack – oh no!
• alarum – call to arms.
• amain – at full speed.
• arrant – unmitigated.
• arras – tapestry hanging.
• assay – attempt.
• aught – anything.
• avaunt – go away.
• ay – yes.
• aye – always.
• base – low in worth, rank, quality.
• bawd – pimp, go-between.
• be/shrew – curse.
• belike – likely.
• beseech – ask.
• bethink – think about.
• bootless – useless.
• brave – excellent (like in “Bravo!”).
• caitiff – pitiful creature.
• chid – chided.
• colours – battle flags.
• commend – give kind regards to.
• corse – corpse.
• course – course of action.
• coxcomb – head, especially that of a fool.
• cozen – trick.
• crave – request.
• discover – make known.
• divers – different.
• dost – (you) do.
• doth – does, said as “duth” or “duz”.
• doublet – close-fitting men’s jacket (pictured at top).
• ducat – the trade coin of Venice, with gold worth $145 (in 2016).
• durst – dared.
• envious – mean-hearted.
• ere – before.
• fain – gladly.
• field – battlefield.
• forbear – stop.
• forsooth – in truth.
• forswear – swear off of; break one’s word; deny.
• froward – wilful.
• gentle – well-born, honourable (like in gentleman).
• glass – looking-glass.
• goodman – the rank below gentleman (a landowner who had to work for a living).
• grandam – grandmother.
• grandsire – grandfather.
• habit – clothing (we still say “a nun’s habit”).
• hap – chance.
• haply – by chance.
• hast – (you) have.
• hath – has.
• heavy – sad.
• hie – hurry.
• holp – helped.
• humour – mood.
• issue – offspring, outcome.
• jerkin – close-fitting jacket, often leather, worn by men (pictured).
• knave – boy (like German Knabe); servant; someone who tries to fool people.
• lief, has as – should like just as much.
• liege – someone you owe allegience to, like a king or lord.
• like – alike, likely.
• livery – outfit, uniform.
• marvellous – extreme.
• meet – right, fit, proper.
• mere/ly – complete/ly.
• moe – more (in number).
• morrow – morning.
• murther – murder, a deadly wound.
• naught, nought – nothing, worthless, lost, bad.
• nuncle – mine uncle.
• office – task, duty.
• ope – open.
• owe – own.
• parle/y – have a meeting about.
• peradventure – perhaps.
• perchance – perhaps.
• perforce – forced to.
• physic – cure, what a physician gives.
• post – postman, courier.
• power – troops.
• pox – venereal disease or plague.
• present/ly – immediate/ly.
• prithee – please.
• puissant – powerful.
• quoth – said.
• recreant – faint-hearted.
• rheum – tears; coughing; spit.
• sad – serious.
• scape – escape.
• several – separate (“each a several way”).
• sirrah – form of address for someone under one’s authority (father to son, master to servant or, mockingly, jester to king).
• sith – since.
• sooth – truth (as in soothsayer).
• sport – entertainment.
• still – constantly.
• straight – straightaway.
• suit – formal request (like in lawsuit).
• swain – a hick; a young man; a lover.
• tabor – a small drum, common among revellers (pictured).
• tapster – someone who draws ale from the tap at an inn.
• thou – you. Said to someone you are on familiar terms with (like tu in Spanish). This word and the forms it gives rise to – thee, thine, thy, thyself and verbs ending in -st (thou knowest, etc) – is the biggest single difference between Shakespeare’s English and ours.
• troth – truth, good faith.
• trow – know, guess, imagine.
• visage – face.
• voice – vote.
• vouchsafe – allow.
• welkin – sky.
• wit – intelligence, good sense.
• withal – as well.
• wont – in the habit of.
• wot – know.
• ye – you, you all.
• yon, yond – over there.

– Abagond, 2016.

Sources: mainly “Shakespeare’s Words” (2002) by David Crystal. 

See also:

• Words I use that are not in Shakespeare – the reverse exercise
• English
  • Early Modern English
  • The English of the King James Bible

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