Shakespeare

English

William Shakespeare

Alternative forms

• Shakespere, Shakspeare, Shakspere (obsolete)

Etymology

Common Middle English surname meaning "spearman", corresponding to shake (“brandish a weapon”) + spear.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈʃeɪkspɪɹ/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈʃeɪkspɪə/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• Hyphenation: Shake‧speare

Proper noun

Shakespeare

1. A surname.
2. William Shakespeare, an English playwright and poet of the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries

   Synonyms: the Bard, Shakey

3. His works or media adaptations of his works.

   He is reading Shakespeare.

4. A place name:
   1. A village in Perth East township, Ontario, Canada, named after the playwright.
   2. A ghost town in Hidalgo County, New Mexico, United States.

Usage notes

• William Shakespeare's manuscripts use a great many different spellings of his surname, too many to list here. (At the time, name spellings were much more variable than today, see Spelling of Shakespeare's name for a list.)

Derived terms

• Bacon-Shakespearean
• Shakespearean
• Shakespeareana
• Shakespeareanism
• Shakespeareanize
• Shakespeareanly
• Shakespeareanness
• Shakespearean sonnet
• Shakespearemania
• Shakespearese
• Shakespearism
• Shakespearize
• Shakespearolater
• Shakespearolatry
• Shakespearologist
• Shakespearology
• Shakey
• unShakespearean

 

Translations

English playwright

• Arabic: شَكْسْبِير m (šaksbīr)
• Armenian: Շեքսպիր (Šekʻspir)
• Azerbaijani: Şekspir
• Bashkir: Шекспир (Şekspir)
• Belarusian: Шэкспі́р m (Šekspír), Шэксьпі́р m (Šeksʹpír) (taraškievica)
• Bengali: শেক্সপীয়ার (śekśopiẏar)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 莎士比亞／莎士比亚 (zh) (Shāshìbǐyà), 莎翁 (zh) (Shāwēng)

• Danish: Shakespeare
• Esperanto: Ŝekspiro
• Finnish: Shakespeare
• French: Shakespeare (fr) m
• Georgian: შექსპირი (šeksṗiri)
• Greek: Σαίξπηρ (el) m (Saíxpir), Σαιξπήρος (el) m (Saixpíros)
• Hebrew: שייקספיר m (sheykspir)
• Hindi: शेक्सपीयर (śeksapīyar)
• Japanese: シェイクスピア (Sheikusupia)
• Korean: 셰익스피어 (Syeikseupieo)
• Latin: Shakespeārius m
• Latvian: Šekspīrs m
• Macedonian: Ше́кспир m (Šékspir)
• Marathi: शेक्स्पीयर (śekspīyar)
• Nepali: शेक्सपियर (śeksapiyar)
• Polish: Szekspir m
• Portuguese: Shakespeare m
• Russian: Шекспи́р (ru) m (Šekspír)
• Spanish: Shakespeare (es)
• Thai: เชกสเปียร์ (châyk-sà-bpia)
• Turkish: Shakespeare, Şekspir
• Ukrainian: Шекспі́р m (Šekspír)
• Vietnamese: Sếch-xpia
• Yiddish: שייקספּיר m (sheykspir)

Noun

Shakespeare (countable and uncountable, plural Shakespeares)

1. (uncountable) Eloquent language, especially English; poetry.
   • 1979 October 10, Russell Maker, “Highbrows Ruin Baseball's Language”, in Toledo Blade:

     This may not be poetry, but in competition with "Ryan has good velocity and excellent location" it is pure Shakespeare.

2. (countable) A playwright of the standing of William Shakespeare
   • 1997, Vivien Allen, Hall Caine: portrait of a Victorian romancer:

     Caine, he said, might be a budding Shakespeare but in Shakespeare's time all it took to put on a play was a barn, a crude stage, […]

See also

• Category:English terms first attested in Shakespeare

Portuguese

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈʃejks.peʁ/ [ˈʃeɪ̯ks.peh]

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈʃejks.peʁ/ [ˈʃeɪ̯ks.peh]
  • (São Paulo) IPA^(key): /ˈʃejks.peɾ/ [ˈʃeɪ̯ks.peɾ]
  • (Rio de Janeiro) IPA^(key): /ˈʃejkʃ.peʁ/ [ˈʃeɪ̯kʃ.peχ]
  • (Southern Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈʃejks.peɻ/ [ˈʃeɪ̯ks.peɻ]

Proper noun

Shakespeare m

1. Shakespeare (William Shakespeare, English playwright)

Derived terms

• shakespeariano