Shakespeare

English

Alternative forms

• Shakspeare, Shakspere (obsolete)

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈʃeɪkspɪɹ/
• IPA^(key): /ˈʃeɪkspɪə/
• 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
3. His works or media adaptations of his works.

   He is reading Shakespeare.

Usage notes

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

Derived terms

• Shakespearean

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), 莎士比亚 (zh) (Shāshìbǐyà), 莎翁 (zh) (Shāwēng)

• Danish: Shakespeare
• Esperanto: Ŝekspiro (eo)
• Finnish: Shakespeare
• French: Shakespeare (fr) m
• Georgian: შექსპირი (šeksṗiri)
• Greek: Σαίξπηρ (el) m (Saíxpir)
• Hebrew: שייקספיר m (sheykspir)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Hindi: शेक्सपीयर (śeksapīyar)
• Japanese: シェイクスピア (Sheikusupia)
• Korean: 셰익스피어 (Syeikseupieo)
• Latvian: Šekspīrs m
• Macedonian: Ше́кспир m (Šékspir)
• Marathi: शेक्स्पीयर (śekspīyar)
• Nepali: शेक्सपियर (śeksapiyar)
• Polish: Szekspir (pl) m
• Portuguese: Shakespeare m
• Russian: Шекспи́р (ru) m (Šekspír)
• Spanish: Shakespeare (es)
• Thai: เชกสเปียร์ (châyk-sà-bpia)
• Turkish: Shakespeare, Şekspir
• 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

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Portuguese

Proper noun

Shakespeare m

1. Shakespeare (William Shakespeare, English playwright)