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You can do your own test, but you will find that an extremely high percentage of the words Shakespeare used are words in common use nowadays. You have to bear in mind that Shakespeare used a much larger vocabulary than most people do, so some of his words even though standard English are not used by people who operate with a 10,000 word vocabulary or less.
Bear in mind, as well, that there are words which we recognize from a traditional phrase or quotation, yet do not usually use.
Let's run a test on Hamlet's advice to the players in Act 3 Scene 2
Speak (common) the (universal) speech (common) I (universal) pray (common, although now mostly in religious sense) you (universal), trippingly (rare) on (universal) the (see above) tongue (common). But (universal) if (universal) you (universal) mouth (rare now as a verb, and now with a different meaning) it (universal) as (universal) many (universal) of (universal) our (universal) players (unusual) do (universal) I (universal) had (universal) as (see above) lief (obsolete) the (see above) town (common) crier (unusual) spoke (common) my (universal) lines(common). Nor (unusual) do (universal) not (universal) saw (common) the (see above) air (common) too (universal) much (universal) with (universal) your (universal) hand (common), thus (unusual).
OK, so I count 26 words which are universal, essential to be able to speak English at all, 10 common words which everyone has in his vocabulary, 3 unusual words which people might use in conversation but not often, 2 rare words which you would find in the dictionary as modern words but are unlikely to hear in conversation or read, and one genuine obsolete word which is no longer used. That's 41 out of 42 in this sample, about 98%, which are words Shakespeare used which we still use.
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How many words did Williams shakespeare use and how many do they use today?
shakespeare used 31534 words and we use over 60, 000
What sort of swear words did Shakespeare use?
They used words that called people tools.
What is the name of the technique where Shakespeare used words in such a way that they were distanced from their traditional meaning?
This use of words is called metaphor.
What shakespeare words are still used today?
Shakespeare spoke English so of course most of the words he used are still in use today. If you are talking about words that we have no record of anyone using before Shakespeare did, "puking" and "assassination" come to mind.
How many of the 31534 words Shakespeare used do we still use today?
Almost all of the words Shakespeare used are still in common use today. To test this out, take a passage out of one of Shakespeare's plays or sonnets and type it into your word processor. Very few of the words will be marked by the spellchecker and these will mostly be either proper names and unusual contractions of words which are in common use, like e'en for even. The difficulty some people have with Shakespeare's words lies in the fact that most people have a much smaller vocabulary than Shakespeare had. Some people get by with as few as 5000 words, one-sixth of what Shakespeare used, which 5000 include a bunch that Shakespeare did not use. If Shakespeare seems to use a lot of words you don't know it is because you don't know enough words. There is a second difficulty people encounter with Shakespeare's words, which is that he sometimes uses common words with unexpected meanings. Usually these meanings are still there but they are secondary and we don't think about them or know them. So when he has Hamlet talk about "the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune", he means sling like a slingshot not something you use to hold a broken arm and fortune meaning luck not fortune meaning a pile of money. Nevertheless all seven words in the quotation are in common use today.
How many of the 31435 words Shakespeare used do we still use today?
Almost all of the words Shakespeare used are still in common use today. To test this out, take a passage out of one of Shakespeare's plays or sonnets and type it into your word processor. Very few of the words will be marked by the spellchecker and these will mostly be either proper names and unusual contractions of words which are in common use, like e'en for even. The difficulty some people have with Shakespeare's words lies in the fact that most people have a much smaller vocabulary than Shakespeare had. Some people get by with as few as 5000 words, one-sixth of what Shakespeare used, which 5000 include a bunch that Shakespeare did not use. If Shakespeare seems to use a lot of words you don't know it is because you don't know enough words. There is a second difficulty people encounter with Shakespeare's words, which is that he sometimes uses common words with unexpected meanings. Usually these meanings are still there but they are secondary and we don't think about them or know them. So when he has Hamlet talk about "the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune", he means sling like a slingshot not something you use to hold a broken arm and fortune meaning luck not fortune meaning a pile of money. Nevertheless all seven words in the quotation are in common use today.
How did shakespeare use his words in his play?
He has the characters in the play say them. That is how you use words in a play.
Why does shakespeare use words to characterize DogBerry?
He was a writer. Words were all he had.
What was William Shakespeare favorite word?
We have no idea what Shakespeare's favourite anything was. He didn't write down such things. The words that Shakespeare used the most were words like "the", "am", "he" and so on, because those are the words anyone uses the most when speaking or writing in English, not because they are favourites.
What four words do you use invented by Shakespeare?
meme my my svay
How many words did an average person use in Shakespeare's day?
Probably the same as people these days--5000 to 10,000. Shakespeare used something like 30,000 words, many of which he made up, so his audiences must have had to figure out a lot of them from context.
What is an Elizabethan word from one of Shakespeare's plays that is no longer in use?
There isn't one. Since all of Shakespeare's plays are constantly performed in their original language, all of the words he uses are currently being used, even if only for the limited purpose of performing his plays. The issue is complicated by the fact that some of the words Shakespeare used were words he made up himself, and did not catch on. One of my favourites is "superflux" which is used in the play King Lear and means "the excess". Shakespeare just made that up, but nobody uses it except people who are playing or quoting King Lear.
