Before Shakespeare, there was no English word for a bedroom
Some trivia is so bizarre it forces you to rethink your entire understanding of the world. Check out the fact below, see how others reacted, and scroll down to dive into the verified science and history behind it.
Prior to Shakespeare coining or recording 'bedroom', the sleeping space in a home was called a 'bedchamber'. The word 'bedroom' appears for the first time in A Midsummer Night's Dream (1600). Similarly, Shakespeare appears to have coined or first recorded 'fashionable', 'advertising', 'lonely', 'generous', 'obscene', 'eventful', 'lackluster', 'swagger', 'bedroom', 'eyeball', and hundreds of other words. Many of these filled genuine gaps in English vocabulary for concepts that existed but had no word.
It's one thing to know Shakespeare invented words. It's another to realise that 'bedroom' — a word so fundamental to describing daily life that it appears in every real estate listing — simply didn't exist in English before 1600.
The Science Behind It
Prior to Shakespeare coining or recording 'bedroom', the sleeping space in a home was called a 'bedchamber'. The word 'bedroom' appears for the first time in A Midsummer Night's Dream (1600). Similarly, Shakespeare appears to have coined or first recorded 'fashionable', 'advertising', 'lonely', 'generous', 'obscene', 'eventful', 'lackluster', 'swagger', 'bedroom', 'eyeball', and hundreds of other words. Many of these filled genuine gaps in English vocabulary for concepts that existed but had no word.
Why Your Brain Finds This Hard to Believe
Sources & Verification
OddlyHuman Editors
VerifiedWritten and fact-checked by the OddlyHuman Behavioral Science Team. We verify all psychological, sociological, and historical claims against peer-reviewed journals, primary sources, and established encyclopedias to bring you accurate insights.
Read our Editorial Guidelines →“Before Shakespeare, there was no English word for 'bedroom' — people called it a 'bedchamber'. Shakespeare also coined 'fashionable', 'lonely', 'eyeball', 'swagger', and 'generous'. 📚 #OddlyHuman”