Essential Vocabulary for Reading Shakespeare

Pronouns, verb forms, directional adverbs, discourse markers, and historically shifted meanings that remove common obstacles in Shakespeare’s text.

A curated Words list.

25 words

English · Experimental / limited support

25 of 30 curated words are in the development corpus.

			Sense and definition
anon	English	ADV	Sense 2 of 3 Soon; in a little while.
hence	English	ADV	Sense 1 of 4 From here, from this place, away.
hither	English	ADV	Sense 1 of 2 To this place, to here.
thence	English	ADV	Sense 1 of 3 From there, from that place or from that time.
thither	English	ADV	Sense 1 of 2 To that place.
whence	English	ADV	Sense 1 of 1 From where; from which place or source.
wherefore	English	ADV	Sense 1 of 2 Why, for what reason, because of what.
forsooth	English	ADV	Sense 1 of 1 Used as an intensifier, often ironic: indeed, really, truthfully.
nay	English	ADV	No sense selected No definition is shown: the meaning this list is about spans several of this word’s 3 senses, so no one of them is it.

Curated words the sources do not supply

thine — independent possessive; possessive before a vowel in some usage. Not bound: ambiguous in the pinned sources: The pinned sources record the word as more than one lexeme and the curated cue spans them, so no single binding is correct.
ere — before. Not bound: ambiguous in the pinned sources: The pinned sources record the word as more than one lexeme and the curated cue spans them, so no single binding is correct.
prithee — “I pray thee”; please. Not in the pinned sources: The pinned sources do not record the curated form under the curated lemma.
methinks — it seems to me. Not in the pinned sources: The pinned sources record the curated form-to-lemma relation the other way round.
fain — gladly; willing. Not bound: ambiguous in the pinned sources: The pinned sources record the word as more than one lexeme and the curated cue spans them, so no single binding is correct.