Insult Generator: Clean Insults From Shakespeare and the Playground

One press deals two describing words and a noun, about two thirds of them Shakespeare's, with the play and scene noted in the lists below.

Insult Generator: Clean Insults From Shakespeare and the Playground: 24 insults

Thou pesky, willful-negligent bunch of radish

  • First wordpesky
  • Second wordwillful-negligent
  • Nounbunch of radish
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Every insult you make is kept here, newest first, up to the last 20. The list stays in this browser.

    Insult of the day

     

    1. Thou sleeveless, foot-dragging fibber
    2. Thou drippy, thunder-stealing thimble
    3. Thou egregious, line-cutting trencher-friend
    4. Thou prating, ill-weaved noisemaker
    5. Thou rusty, ill-tempered ballad-monger
    6. Thou o'erparted, super-serviceable trencher-friend
    7. Thou blustery, weather-bitten parrot-teacher
    8. Thou insinuating, cart-abandoning caterpillar
    9. Thou finical, high-blown thimble
    10. Thou unmannered, highfalutin waterfly
    11. Thou dusty, ill-spirited popinjay
    12. Thou malapert, lack-luster mop bucket
    13. Thou sneaping, high-blown kazoo
    14. Thou grumpy, brazen-faced soused gurnet
    15. Thou drossy, ill-spirited captain of compliments
    16. Thou wobbly, joke-explaining micher
    17. Thou stuffy, action-taking bunch of radish
    18. Thou overcooked, corner-cutting jar of pickle juice
    19. Thou peremptory, shilly-shallying burnt toast
    20. Thou overcooked, hollow-hearted pickthank
    21. Thou bavin, long-winded gosling
    22. Thou blustery, muddy-mettled trencher-friend
    23. Thou squeaky, lack-luster duke of dark corners
    24. Thou wrangling, ill-beseeming traffic cone

    Next step Make up with a complimentDeal a gentler two-word pair

    Insult Generator: Clean Insults From Shakespeare and the Playground: how it works

    This insult generator builds a clean, silly insult from three rows: 118 first words, 110 second words and 117 nouns, or 1,518,660 lines such as Thou saucy, fly-bitten popinjay. About two thirds of the words are Shakespeare's, each checked in its play and scene. The rest are playground words like soggy and turnip. Nothing mocks looks, brains, family or identity.

    Two styles in one line

    The three rows hold both styles, so Thou soggy, plume-plucked kazoo can happen: a playground word, one of York's from Richard II, and a playground noun. Lock the word you like and press New insult to change the rest. In the full lists below, every Shakespearean word names its play, act and scene, and usually who says it.

    Aim it at something that cannot mind

    These lines are for targets with no feelings: a jammed printer, a Monday alarm, a bad dice roll. For a rehearsal warm-up, deal one to each pair of actors and trade them across the room with a bow. The model is Kent's tirade at the steward Oswald in King Lear 2.2, which supplied ten words here. A villain in your story can have one. Leave real people out of it.

    Tips

    • Lock the noun, then reroll the other two rows until all three words share a first sound: peevish, plume-plucked popinjay.
    • Print makes a sheet of 24. Cut it into strips for a hat, and the worst dice roll of game night gets one read out to it.
    • The insult of the day is the same draw for every visitor, so a group chat can all groan at one line.

    Questions and answers

    Why does every line start with thou?

    Thou was the familiar form of you, and said to a stranger or a rival it showed contempt. In Twelfth Night 3.2, Sir Toby coaches Sir Andrew on a written challenge: if thou thou'st him some thrice, it shall not be amiss.

    Are the Shakespearean words real?

    Yes. Each was found in the text of its play, in the act and scene shown in the full list, using Project Gutenberg's public-domain Complete Works. Popinjay is Hotspur's in Henry IV, Part 1 1.3, and cankerblossom is what Hermia calls Helena in A Midsummer Night's Dream 3.2. Spelling is modern American, so lack-lustre became lack-luster.

    Why are the famous rude ones missing?

    No word mocks looks, a body, brains, family, age, faith or identity, and nothing is crude, which ruled out many well-known Shakespearean insults. What is left goes after behavior: hogging the remote, explaining the joke, bowing too much. Every word was read against the other two rows, since any three can meet. There is no name box, on purpose.

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    First word: all 118 first words

    From the comedies 30

    • affectioned Twelfth Night 2.3. Putting on airs. Maria's word for the steward Malvolio.
    • carping Much Ado About Nothing 3.1. Picking faults in everything. Ursula: such carping is not commendable.
    • churlish As You Like It 5.4. Rude and grudging. Touchstone ranks the reply churlish third of his seven replies.
    • clamorous As You Like It 4.1. Loud and insistent. Rosalind: more clamorous than a parrot against rain.
    • crabbed The Tempest 3.1. Sour and hard to please. Ferdinand's word for Prospero's manner.
    • domineering Love's Labor's Lost 3.1. Bossy. Berowne admits he has been a domineering pedant over Cupid.
    • fantastical Much Ado About Nothing 2.3. Full of odd fancies. Benedick calls Claudio's new talk a fantastical banquet.
    • flouting Much Ado About Nothing 1.1. Mocking. Benedick asks Claudio whether he is playing the flouting jack.
    • giddy Much Ado About Nothing 5.4. Spinning and changeable. Benedick's conclusion: man is a giddy thing.
    • hovering The Winter's Tale 1.2. Never landing on a decision. Leontes calls Camillo a hovering temporizer.
    • hyperbolical Twelfth Night 4.2. Wildly exaggerated. The Fool shouts it while dressed up as a curate.
    • incharitable The Tempest 1.1. With no kindness to spare. Sebastian yells it at the Boatswain in the storm.
    • meddling Measure for Measure 5.1. Poking into other people's business. Lucio on a friar who is the Duke in disguise.
    • naughty Much Ado About Nothing 4.2. Badly behaved. Constable Dogberry to a prisoner: thou naughty varlet.
    • o'erparted Love's Labor's Lost 5.2. Given too big a part. Costard says it kindly of a neighbor who dries up on stage.
    • overweening Twelfth Night 2.5. Far too sure of oneself. Sir Toby mutters it while Malvolio daydreams aloud.
    • pathetical As You Like It 4.1. Pitiful. Rosalind's word for anyone who turns up a minute late.
    • pedantical Love's Labor's Lost 5.2. Showing off book learning. Berowne swears off figures pedantical.
    • peevish The Comedy of Errors 4.1. Cross over nothing. Antipholus calls his servant a peevish sheep, punning on ship.
    • peregrinate Love's Labor's Lost 5.1. Putting on foreign airs. Holofernes coins it for Don Armado.
    • quarrelsome As You Like It 5.4. Spoiling for an argument. Touchstone's fifth reply is the countercheck quarrelsome.
    • saucy All's Well That Ends Well 2.3. Cheeky past the point of charm. Lafew says it to the braggart Parolles.
    • scambling Much Ado About Nothing 5.1. Scrambling and brawling. Leonato's brother throws it at Claudio and the Prince.
    • sneaping Love's Labor's Lost 1.1. Nipping, like a late frost. Berowne is told he is like an envious sneaping frost.
    • sullen As You Like It 2.1. Silent and sulking. Duke Senior likes to find Jaques in his sullen fits.
    • thrasonical Love's Labor's Lost 5.1. Boastful, after Thraso, the bragging soldier in a Roman comedy. Holofernes's word.
    • twangling The Taming of the Shrew 2.1. Plucking strings badly. Katherine calls her music teacher a twangling Jack.
    • unmannered The Taming of the Shrew 4.1. With no manners at all. Petruchio shouts it as he sends his dinner back.
    • waspish The Taming of the Shrew 2.1. Quick to sting. Katherine owns it: if I be waspish, best beware my sting.
    • wayward Much Ado About Nothing 2.1. Going its own contrary way. Beatrice calls a husband a clod of wayward marl.

    From the histories 22

    • bavin Henry IV, Part 1 3.2. Like brushwood: soon kindled and soon burnt. King Henry on quick, shallow jesters.
    • braying King John 3.1. Harsh and loud as a donkey. Blanche dreads braying trumpets on her wedding day.
    • egregious Henry V 2.1. Outstandingly bad. Pistol roars it at Nym: egregious dog.
    • fawning Henry IV, Part 1 1.3. Flattering for favors. Hotspur remembers the King as a fawning greyhound.
    • froward Henry VI, Part 3 4.7. Stubbornly contrary. King Edward's word for Clarence, who changed sides.
    • fustian Henry IV, Part 2 2.4. Pompous and padded, after a coarse cloth. Doll Tearsheet's word for Pistol.
    • impudent Henry IV, Part 1 3.3. Shameless. Prince Hal says it when Falstaff makes a fuss over a picked pocket.
    • jauncing Richard II 5.5. Prancing up and down in the saddle. King Richard's word for Bolingbroke.
    • leaden Richard III 5.3. Slow and heavy, like lead. Richmond fears leaden slumber on the night before battle.
    • malapert Richard III 1.3. Cheeky to one's elders. Queen Margaret slaps down a new-made marquess with it.
    • paltry Richard III 5.3. Small and worthless. King Richard's word for his rival before the battle.
    • peremptory Henry IV, Part 1 1.3. Bossy and final. King Henry sends Worcester out of the room for it.
    • prating Henry V 4.1. Chattering on. Fluellen wants quiet in camp even if the enemy is a prating coxcomb.
    • ramping King John 3.1. Rearing up to roar, like a lion on a shield. Constance says it to the Duke of Austria.
    • riddling Henry VI, Part 1 2.3. Talking in puzzles. The Countess of Auvergne says it of Talbot.
    • silken Richard III 1.3. Smooth and soft-spoken. Richard complains of silken, sly, insinuating Jacks.
    • skipping Henry IV, Part 1 3.2. Frivolous, never still. King Henry's name for the king before him: the skipping king.
    • swaggering Henry IV, Part 2 2.4. Strutting and blustering. Doll Tearsheet does not want Pistol let upstairs.
    • tardy Richard III 5.3. Late, and slow about it. Richmond begs pardon for being a tardy sluggard.
    • windy Richard III 4.4. All breath and no substance. Queen Elizabeth calls words windy attorneys.
    • wrangling Richard III 1.3. Squabbling noisily. Queen Margaret: hear me, you wrangling pirates.
    • yawning Henry V 1.2. Half asleep. Canterbury's beehive ends with the lazy yawning drone.

    From the tragedies 26

    • arrant Hamlet 3.1. Out-and-out. Hamlet: we are arrant knaves all, himself included.
    • candied Hamlet 3.2. Sugar-coated. Hamlet leaves flattery to the candied tongue.
    • cogging Othello 4.2. Cheating. Emilia's guess at who started a rumor, nearer the truth than she knows.
    • dissentious Coriolanus 1.1. Always stirring up a quarrel. Martius greets a crowd with it.
    • drossy Hamlet 5.2. Full of dross, the scum on molten metal. Hamlet's word for a shallow age.
    • finical King Lear 2.2. Fussy and over-particular. One of Kent's words for the steward Oswald.
    • fleering Julius Caesar 1.3. Grinning and sneering. Casca promises he is no fleering telltale.
    • fusty Troilus and Cressida 1.3. Stale and stuffy. Ulysses's word for the play-acting that amuses Achilles.
    • glib King Lear 1.1. Smooth-talking. Cordelia says she lacks that glib and oily art.
    • hollow Julius Caesar 4.2. All show outside, nothing inside. Brutus compares hollow men to showy horses.
    • insinuating Othello 4.2. Worming into favor. Emilia pictures a busy and insinuating rogue.
    • jigging Julius Caesar 4.3. Rhyming in a singsong. Brutus has no time for jigging poets in wartime.
    • juggling Macbeth 5.8. Playing tricks with words. Macbeth's word for the fiends whose prophecies had a double sense.
    • lukewarm Timon of Athens 3.6. Neither hot nor cold. Timon serves his false friends lukewarm water for dinner.
    • musty Hamlet 3.2. Stale from sitting too long. Hamlet: the proverb is something musty.
    • quarrelous Cymbeline 3.4. Ready to pick a fight. Pisanio: as quarrelous as the weasel.
    • robustious Hamlet 3.2. Loud and rough. Hamlet warns the players against a robustious fellow who tears a speech to rags.
    • sleeveless Troilus and Cressida 5.4. Pointless. Thersites talks of a sleeveless errand, one with no result.
    • slippery Antony and Cleopatra 1.2. Impossible to hold to anything. Antony's word for a fickle public.
    • splenative Hamlet 5.1. Quick to flare up. Hamlet says he is not, in the middle of a quarrel.
    • tedious Hamlet 2.2. Long and wearying. Hamlet mutters it as Polonius leaves the room.
    • testy Julius Caesar 4.3. Short-tempered. Brutus refuses to crouch under the testy humor of Cassius.
    • tetchy Troilus and Cressida 1.1. Easily irritated. Troilus grumbles that Pandarus is tetchy about being asked.
    • unbolted King Lear 2.2. Unsifted, like lumpy flour. Kent says it of Oswald.
    • under-honest Troilus and Cressida 2.3. Less than straight. Agamemnon's message to Achilles: over-proud and under-honest.
    • unmeritable Julius Caesar 4.1. Deserving nothing. Antony says Lepidus is fit only to be sent on errands.

    Playground words 40

    • blustery All gusts and noise, like a wind that wrecks umbrellas.
    • bumptious Loudly and bouncily sure of itself. A real word, and fun to say.
    • cheeky Says the bold thing with a grin and waits to see what happens.
    • clunky Heavy, loud and awkward, like a suitcase with one wheel.
    • cranky Cross for no reason anyone can find. Usually needs a nap.
    • crumbly Falls apart the moment anyone leans on it, like a dry cookie.
    • deflated All the air gone out, like a balloon on the day after the party.
    • drippy Steady and annoying, like a tap at two in the morning.
    • dusty Untouched for years, like the top of a wardrobe.
    • floppy Unable to stand up on its own, like a wet paper straw.
    • fussy Wants the crusts off, the peas apart and a different spoon.
    • grouchy Growls at mornings, Mondays and cheerful music.
    • grumbly Complains under its breath the whole way there and back.
    • grumpy In a bad mood before breakfast and not much better after.
    • huffy Offended in a loud, breathy way, with extra sighing.
    • leaky Cannot hold water or a secret.
    • mushy Cooked well past done, like peas on a school lunch tray.
    • nosy Reads over a shoulder and asks who the message is from.
    • off-key Loud, sure of the tune, and wrong about it.
    • overcooked Left in far too long and gone to rubber.
    • persnickety Fussy about tiny details, like the angle of a fork.
    • pesky Small, constant and hard to swat, like a fly at a picnic.
    • pompous Makes a speech when a nod would do.
    • pouty Arms folded, sighing loudly, waiting for someone to ask what is wrong.
    • prickly Takes every remark the wrong way, like hugging a cactus.
    • pushy Goes first through every door and takes the biggest slice.
    • rusty Left out in the rain and creaking ever since.
    • smug Far too pleased with itself, like a cat on a warm laptop.
    • sneaky Tiptoes to the cookie jar and blames the dog.
    • snippy Answers every question in three sharp words.
    • snooty Looks down on anything that did not cost extra.
    • snoozy Half asleep, and asking for nine more minutes.
    • soggy Wet through, like cereal left in the bowl too long.
    • squeaky Makes a small high noise at every move, like a shopping cart wheel.
    • stale Left out overnight and gone hard at the edges.
    • stodgy Heavy and dull, like a pudding that sank.
    • stuffy Formal, airless and against fun, like a room with its windows painted shut.
    • sulky Silent on purpose, and making sure everyone knows it.
    • tangled In a knot and getting worse, like earphones in a pocket.
    • wobbly Unsteady, like a table with one short leg.

    How this list was compiled: The first word of the insult: plain adjectives in two styles, Shakespearean and playground. The Shakespearean words were picked for this page from the plays, not taken from any existing insult kit or word list. On 2026-09-19 a script confirmed every one, and any phrase its line quotes, in the named act and scene of the Project Gutenberg edition of The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (eBook #100, https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/100, plain text downloaded and checked 2026-09-19), a text in the public domain. Each Shakespearean item's d names the play, act and scene. Ordinary words are spelled the modern American way (unmannered, willful, luster); Shakespeare's own coinages keep that text's form; x.found holds the spelling exactly as that text prints it. Plays are grouped as the First Folio prints them, 14 comedies, 10 histories and 12 tragedies (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Folio, checked 2026-09-19), so Cymbeline sits with the tragedies. So does Troilus and Cressida, which was added late at the head of the tragedies and is missing from the Folio's own catalogue page, which lists 35 plays. Pericles and The Two Noble Kinsmen are not in the Folio and were not used. Quotations are a few words each from the public-domain plays. The playground words and every d line are own work. Screening, applied to the word, to the line and to the whole row, here and in the other two lists: nothing that mocks looks, a body, brains, family, age, faith, class or identity, no slurs, nothing that reads as rude today, and no word that turns cruel beside any word in the other two rows, because the tool cannot block a single pairing. The output has no name field and is aimed at nobody. One gloss leans on an outside fact: Thraso is the braggart soldier in Terence's comedy Eunuchus (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eunuchus, checked 2026-09-19). The page's note on thou as a form of contempt follows https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thou (checked 2026-09-19), and Sir Toby's line was read in Twelfth Night 3.2 of the same Gutenberg text. Licence: own work

    ,

    Second word: all 110 second words

    From the comedies 21

    • both-sides All's Well That Ends Well 4.3. Two-faced. Bertram mutters it when Parolles tells tales on him.
    • cony-catching The Merry Wives of Windsor 1.1. Swindling: a cony is a rabbit, the easy catch. Slender on Falstaff's men.
    • dog-weary The Taming of the Shrew 4.2. Worn out from waiting about. Biondello, after a long watch on the road.
    • double-dealing Twelfth Night 5.1. Playing both sides. The Fool puns on it while begging a second coin.
    • fashion-monging Much Ado About Nothing 5.1. Trend-chasing. Leonato's brother: scambling, out-facing, fashion-monging boys.
    • giddy-paced Twelfth Night 2.4. Whirling along too fast. Orsino's phrase for the times he lives in.
    • home-keeping The Two Gentlemen of Verona 1.1. Never leaving home. Valentine teases Proteus with it as the play opens.
    • honey-tongued Love's Labor's Lost 5.2. Sweet-talking. Berowne's label for the smooth courtier Boyet.
    • lack-luster As You Like It 2.7. Dull, with no shine. Jaques describes a jester checking the time with lack-luster eye.
    • linsey-woolsey All's Well That Ends Well 4.1. A cloth of mixed wool and linen. A lord's word for jumbled nonsense talk.
    • newfangled As You Like It 4.1. Chasing every novelty. Rosalind threatens to be exactly that after the wedding.
    • news-crammed As You Like It 1.2. Stuffed with gossip. Rosalind's word as a courtier arrives with the latest.
    • not-of-the-newest The Tempest 2.2. Past its best. Trinculo's phrase for a smell of old dried fish.
    • point-devise Love's Labor's Lost 5.1. Correct to the last fussy detail. Holofernes says it of Don Armado.
    • proud-minded The Taming of the Shrew 2.1. Stiff with pride. Petruchio: I am as peremptory as she proud-minded.
    • self-endeared Much Ado About Nothing 3.1. In love with oneself. Hero says it where Beatrice is sure to overhear.
    • slow-winged The Taming of the Shrew 2.1. Slow off the ground. Petruchio: O slow-winged turtle, meaning a turtledove.
    • tittle-tattling The Winter's Tale 4.4. Gossiping. The Shepherd's Son scolds two girls for it at the feast.
    • weather-bitten The Winter's Tale 5.2. Worn by wind and rain, like an old stone spout. A gentleman's phrase for the Shepherd.
    • willful-negligent The Winter's Tale 1.2. Careless on purpose. Camillo lists it among the faults he might own up to.
    • worm-eaten As You Like It 3.4. Hollowed out from inside. Celia says Orlando's love is as hollow as a worm-eaten nut.

    From the histories 24

    • clip-winged Henry IV, Part 1 3.1. Grounded, with wings trimmed. Hotspur mocks talk of a clip-winged griffin.
    • cold-blooded King John 3.1. Without warmth or courage. Constance to the Duke of Austria, who has let her down.
    • fell-lurking Henry VI, Part 2 5.1. Fierce, and skulking out of sight. York calls his enemies fell-lurking curs.
    • fly-bitten Henry IV, Part 2 2.1. Speckled by flies. Falstaff's word for the Hostess's old tapestries.
    • frosty-spirited Henry IV, Part 1 2.3. Cold on a plan. Hotspur says it of a lord whose letter declines to join him.
    • high-blown Henry VIII 3.2. Puffed up like a bladder. Wolsey on his own pride, which burst under him.
    • hollow-hearted Richard III 4.4. Friendly on the surface only. Ratcliffe reports doubtful hollow-hearted friends.
    • hurlyburly Henry IV, Part 1 5.1. Noisy and chaotic. King Henry speaks of hurlyburly innovation.
    • Hydra-headed Henry V 1.1. Growing two new heads for each one cut off. Canterbury on the King's old willfulness.
    • ill-spirited Henry IV, Part 1 5.5. Mean in spirit. King Henry's word for Worcester after the battle.
    • ill-tuned King John 2.1. Off-key. King Philip silences a quarrel: these ill-tuned repetitions.
    • ill-weaved Henry IV, Part 1 5.4. Badly woven, like cloth that shrinks. Prince Hal's word for Hotspur's ambition.
    • long-winded Henry IV, Part 1 3.3. Able to go on and on. Prince Hal jokes that sugar candy keeps Falstaff long-winded.
    • nook-shotten Henry V 3.5. Full of corners and crooked inlets. A French duke's word for the island of Britain.
    • oath-breaking Henry IV, Part 1 5.2. Going back on a sworn word. Worcester's complaint against the King.
    • plume-plucked Richard II 4.1. With every fine feather pulled out. York's phrase for the humbled King Richard.
    • rival-hating Richard II 1.3. Unable to bear a competitor. King Richard speaks of rival-hating envy.
    • skimble-skamble Henry IV, Part 1 3.1. Rambling and senseless. Hotspur's verdict on Glendower's prophecies.
    • sky-aspiring Richard II 1.3. Aiming far too high. King Richard blames sky-aspiring and ambitious thoughts.
    • snail-paced Richard III 4.3. Slow as a snail. King Richard decides that delay leads to snail-paced beggary.
    • stony-hearted Henry IV, Part 1 2.2. Without pity. Falstaff's word for the friends who hid his horse.
    • wasp-stung Henry IV, Part 1 1.3. Buzzing with temper. Northumberland says it to Hotspur, who will not stop talking.
    • wind-changing Henry VI, Part 3 5.1. Turning with every breeze. King Edward's name for Warwick, who swapped sides.
    • yea-forsooth Henry IV, Part 2 1.2. Forever saying yes indeed. Falstaff's word for a merchant who will not give him credit.

    From the tragedies 22

    • action-taking King Lear 2.2. Running to the law instead of settling things face to face. Kent on Oswald.
    • all-licensed King Lear 1.4. Allowed to say anything. Goneril's complaint about her father's Fool.
    • brazen-faced King Lear 2.2. Shameless, bold as brass. Kent: what a brazen-faced varlet art thou.
    • cap-and-knee Timon of Athens 3.6. All hat-doffing and bowing. Timon throws it at his false friends.
    • ear-piercing Othello 3.3. Painfully shrill. Othello bids farewell to the ear-piercing fife.
    • fen-sucked King Lear 2.4. Drawn up from a bog. Lear calls down fen-sucked fogs.
    • glass-gazing King Lear 2.2. Always at the mirror. From Kent's long list for Oswald.
    • ill-beseeming Romeo and Juliet 3.3. Unbecoming. Friar Lawrence scolds Romeo with it.
    • ill-tempered Julius Caesar 4.3. Out of balance and cross. Cassius uses it as he and Brutus make up.
    • knee-crooking Othello 1.1. Forever bowing. Iago sneers at the duteous and knee-crooking servant.
    • marble-hearted King Lear 1.4. Cold and hard as stone. Lear: Ingratitude, thou marble-hearted fiend.
    • mouse-eaten Troilus and Cressida 5.4. Nibbled at the edges. Thersites likens Nestor to a mouse-eaten dry cheese.
    • muddy-mettled Hamlet 2.2. Dull-spirited. Hamlet says it of himself for doing nothing.
    • promise-crammed Hamlet 3.2. Stuffed with promises and nothing else. Hamlet: I eat the air, promise-crammed.
    • self-affected Troilus and Cressida 2.3. In love with oneself. Diomedes's word, in a scene about the pride of Achilles.
    • shard-born Macbeth 3.2. Hatched in a dung heap. Macbeth's word for a beetle droning at dusk.
    • sharp-toothed King Lear 2.4. Biting. Lear speaks of sharp-toothed unkindness.
    • silly-ducking King Lear 2.2. Bowing and bobbing. Cornwall speaks of silly-ducking observants.
    • super-serviceable King Lear 2.2. Too eager to please the boss. Kent says it of the steward Oswald.
    • tempest-tossed Macbeth 1.3. Thrown about by every storm. The First Witch's plan for a sailor's ship.
    • tiger-footed Coriolanus 3.1. Rushing in too fast to think. Menenius warns against tiger-footed rage.
    • trumpet-tongued Macbeth 1.7. Loud enough for all to hear. Macbeth pictures virtues pleading trumpet-tongued.

    Playground words 43

    • armrest-hogging Claims both armrests for the entire trip.
    • blanket-hogging Takes the whole quilt and leaves you a corner.
    • board-flipping Losing at the game, so the game ends for everyone.
    • buck-passing Whatever went wrong, it was somebody else's job.
    • button-mashing Presses everything at once and calls it a strategy.
    • card-peeking Leans over for a look at your cards and calls it stretching.
    • cart-abandoning Leaves the shopping cart loose in the middle of the parking lot.
    • chore-dodging Suddenly has homework whenever the dishes appear.
    • clock-watching Packed up and facing the door with five minutes still to go.
    • cookie-swiping Leaves crumbs at the scene and denies everything.
    • corner-cutting Skips steps two to six and hopes nobody checks.
    • crayon-snapping Borrows the good crayons and gives them back in halves.
    • dice-fudging Rolls where nobody can see and always gets a six.
    • dilly-dallying Stops to look at everything when you are already late.
    • door-slamming Ends every disagreement with a bang from the hallway.
    • double-dipping Bites the chip and sends it back into the shared salsa.
    • excuse-making The dog ate it, the bus was late, the wind took it.
    • eye-rolling Answers every request with a long look at the ceiling.
    • flip-flopping Says yes on Monday, no on Tuesday and maybe on Wednesday.
    • foot-dragging Takes ten minutes to put on one shoe.
    • fridge-raiding Found at midnight, lit by the little light, holding your leftovers.
    • glitter-spilling One craft project, and the carpet sparkles for a year.
    • harum-scarum Rushes in without looking and leaves a mess behind.
    • highfalutin Uses a big word where a small one would do.
    • hoity-toity Acts far too grand for the rest of the room.
    • joke-explaining Tells the joke, then explains why it was funny.
    • la-di-da Puts on a fancy voice and a fancier attitude.
    • line-cutting Slides in ahead of everyone and studies the ceiling.
    • lollygagging Wanders about doing nothing in particular, slowly.
    • name-dropping Mentions a famous friend in every other sentence.
    • remote-hogging Holds the remote all evening and never settles on a channel.
    • rule-bending Reads the rules only to find the gaps.
    • seat-stealing Gone for one minute, and your chair has a new owner.
    • shilly-shallying Goes back and forth so long that the decision expires.
    • slapdash Done in a hurry, and it shows.
    • snack-hoarding Has a secret drawer of snacks and shares none of it.
    • sofa-hogging Lies across all three cushions and says there is plenty of room.
    • spoiler-spilling Tells you how it ends while you are still on episode two.
    • story-topping Whatever happened to you, something bigger happened to this one.
    • thunder-stealing Blurts out your big news just before you can.
    • topsy-turvy Upside down and proud of it.
    • turn-skipping Somehow it is never your go when this one keeps count.
    • wishy-washy Cannot pick a side, a flavor or a seat.

    How this list was compiled: The second word of the insult: compound adjectives in two styles. The Shakespearean compounds were picked by hand for this page and checked on 2026-09-19 in the same Project Gutenberg text as the first words, by the same script; the grouping of the plays and the screening rules are set out under that list and apply here unchanged. Hyphens follow that text, so fashion-monging and super-serviceable are hyphenated, hurlyburly is one word and Hydra-headed keeps its capital. Two departures, both recorded in x.found: both-sides is printed there as two words, and not-of-the-newest without hyphens. The playground compounds and every d line are own work. Licence: own work

    ,

    Noun: all 117 nouns

    From the comedies 30

    • brock Twelfth Night 2.5. A badger. Sir Toby mutters it from his hiding place.
    • bubble All's Well That Ends Well 3.6. Shiny, empty and soon popped. A lord's one-word verdict on Parolles.
    • buzzard The Taming of the Shrew 2.1. A slow, heavy hawk. Katherine and Petruchio bat the word back and forth.
    • candle-waster Much Ado About Nothing 5.1. Someone who burns candles all night over books. Leonato's word.
    • cankerblossom A Midsummer Night's Dream 3.2. A grub that eats a bud from inside. Hermia hurls it at Helena.
    • carry-tale Love's Labor's Lost 5.2. Someone who runs to report what was said. Berowne suspects one spoiled the surprise.
    • custard-coffin The Taming of the Shrew 4.3. The pastry case of a custard pie. Petruchio's name for a cap he refuses to like.
    • duke of dark corners Measure for Measure 4.3. A ruler who does things out of sight. Lucio's name for the absent Duke.
    • ill-roasted egg As You Like It 3.2. An egg cooked on one side only. Touchstone tells the shepherd Corin he is like one.
    • March-chick Much Ado About Nothing 1.3. A chick hatched too early, so someone in a hurry to grow up. Don John's phrase.
    • mountebank The Comedy of Errors 5.1. A seller of fake cures from a market bench. Antipholus on a man called Pinch.
    • mumble-news Love's Labor's Lost 5.2. A gossip who mutters secrets. From Berowne's list of tale-bearers.
    • noisemaker The Tempest 1.1. Someone producing racket and nothing else. Antonio shouts it at the Boatswain.
    • parrot-teacher Much Ado About Nothing 1.1. Someone who repeats a phrase until the bird learns it. Benedick to Beatrice.
    • pedant The Taming of the Shrew 3.1. A schoolmaster who fusses over rules. One false tutor says it to another.
    • promise-breaker All's Well That Ends Well 3.6. Someone whose word lasts an hour. A lord calls Parolles an hourly one.
    • remainder biscuit As You Like It 2.7. The last hard biscuit left after a sea voyage. Jaques's measure of dryness.
    • rudesby Twelfth Night 4.1. A rude, rowdy fellow. Olivia orders Sir Toby out with it.
    • saltwater thief Twelfth Night 5.1. A pirate. Orsino's greeting for the sea captain Antonio.
    • sheep-biter Twelfth Night 2.5. A dog that nips the sheep it should guard, so a sneak. Sir Toby on Malvolio.
    • Sir Oracle The Merchant of Venice 1.1. Expects silence when he speaks. Gratiano: when I ope my lips, let no dog bark.
    • snail The Comedy of Errors 2.2. Slow to move and slow to answer. Luciana to Dromio: thou snail, thou slug.
    • snapper-up of unconsidered trifles The Winter's Tale 4.3. A pocketer of small things nobody is watching. Autolycus describes himself.
    • temporizer The Winter's Tale 1.2. Someone who waits to see which side wins. Leontes accuses Camillo of being one.
    • thimble The Taming of the Shrew 4.3. A tiny cap for a sewing finger. Petruchio shouts it at a tailor.
    • time-pleaser Twelfth Night 2.3. Someone who says whatever suits the moment. Maria's word for Malvolio.
    • turkey-cock Twelfth Night 2.5. A strutting bird with its feathers up. Fabian watches Malvolio puff himself up.
    • weathercock The Merry Wives of Windsor 3.2. Something that swings with every wind. Ford's name for Falstaff's page boy.
    • whirligig Twelfth Night 5.1. A spinning top. The Fool: thus the whirligig of time brings in his revenges.
    • winter-cricket The Taming of the Shrew 4.3. A chirping thing out of season. Petruchio to a tailor, after flea and nit.

    From the histories 22

    • ballad-monger Henry IV, Part 1 3.1. A seller of cheap rhymes. Hotspur would rather be a kitten and cry mew than be one.
    • bluebottle Henry IV, Part 2 5.4. A big buzzing fly. Doll Tearsheet's name for an officer of the law.
    • break-vow King John 2.1. A breaker of promises, daily. From the speech on Commodity, the pull of self-interest.
    • bunch of radish Henry IV, Part 1 2.4. Falstaff's oath: if I fought not with fifty of them, I am a bunch of radish.
    • caterpillar Richard II 2.3. Something that eats the garden it lives in. Bolingbroke on the King's favorites.
    • dish of skim milk Henry IV, Part 1 2.3. Thin stuff with the cream taken off. Hotspur on a lord who will not join him.
    • drone Henry V 1.2. The bee that does no work. Canterbury's beehive has one, lazy and yawning.
    • eavesdropper Richard III 5.3. A listener at tent flaps. King Richard decides to play the eavesdropper on his own men.
    • find-fault Henry V 5.2. A critic of everything. King Henry tells Katherine that kings can silence all find-faults.
    • finless fish Henry IV, Part 1 3.1. A fish that cannot steer. One of the omens Hotspur refuses to take seriously.
    • king of smiles Henry IV, Part 1 1.3. Someone who grins his way to the top. Hotspur's name for Bolingbroke.
    • micher Henry IV, Part 1 2.4. A truant who sneaks off. Falstaff, playing the King, asks if the sun should be one.
    • moldwarp Henry IV, Part 1 3.1. A mole, busy underground. Hotspur is tired of hearing prophecies about one.
    • paraquito Henry IV, Part 1 2.3. A little parrot. Lady Percy says it to Hotspur, who will not give a straight answer.
    • pickthank Henry IV, Part 1 3.2. A flatterer who carries tales to earn thanks. Prince Hal blames smiling pickthanks.
    • popinjay Henry IV, Part 1 1.3. A parrot, so an overdressed chatterer. Hotspur is pestered by one after a battle.
    • prater Henry V 5.2. Someone who talks and talks. King Henry: a speaker is but a prater.
    • puddle Henry VI, Part 2 4.1. Standing muddy water. A pun on the name Pole, thrown at the Duke of Suffolk.
    • purpose-changer King John 2.1. Whatever makes people drop their plans. A name for Commodity, meaning self-interest.
    • shotten herring Henry IV, Part 1 2.4. A herring that has already spawned, with nothing left in it. Falstaff swears by it.
    • sluggard Richard III 5.3. Someone slow to get out of bed. Richmond says it of himself on the morning of a battle.
    • soused gurnet Henry IV, Part 1 4.2. A pickled fish. Falstaff: if I be not ashamed of my soldiers, I am a soused gurnet.

    From the tragedies 27

    • barber-monger King Lear 2.2. Someone always at the barber's. Kent says it of Oswald.
    • box of envy Troilus and Cressida 5.1. A container of pure spite. Patroclus snaps it at Thersites.
    • captain of compliments Romeo and Juliet 2.4. A master of formal manners. Mercutio on Tybalt's by-the-book style.
    • counter-caster Othello 1.1. A bean counter, working sums with tokens. Iago's word for Cassio.
    • finch egg Troilus and Cressida 5.1. A very small egg. Thersites snaps it at Patroclus.
    • flibbertigibbet King Lear 3.4. A fiend's name in Poor Tom's patter. Ever since, a flighty chatterer.
    • gosling Coriolanus 5.3. A baby goose that follows by instinct. Coriolanus swears he will not be one.
    • hedge-pig Macbeth 4.1. A hedgehog. It whines once in the witches' opening count.
    • John-a-dreams Hamlet 2.2. A daydreamer who never gets started. Hamlet compares himself to one.
    • king of cats Romeo and Juliet 3.1. Mercutio's name for Tybalt. The cat in the Reynard the Fox tales has the same name.
    • king of shreds and patches Hamlet 3.4. A ruler stitched together from scraps. Hamlet's phrase for Claudius.
    • land fish Troilus and Cressida 3.3. A fish out of water, gaping and wordless. Thersites on Ajax, too proud to speak.
    • lapwing Hamlet 5.2. A bird said to run off with the shell still on its head. Horatio on Osric.
    • minute-jack Timon of Athens 3.6. A time-server who changes by the minute. Timon throws it at his dinner guests.
    • porpentine Troilus and Cressida 2.1. A porcupine, all prickles. Ajax's word for the sharp-tongued Thersites.
    • princox Romeo and Juliet 1.5. A cocky youngster. Capulet's word for Tybalt at the feast.
    • shealed peascod King Lear 1.4. A shelled pea pod: the husk with nothing left in it. The Fool points at Lear as he says it.
    • slugabed Romeo and Juliet 4.5. Someone who will not get up. The Nurse's morning call to Juliet.
    • sponge Hamlet 4.2. Something that soaks up whatever the King pours out. Hamlet to Rosencrantz.
    • telltale Julius Caesar 1.3. Someone who reports everything. Casca promises he is not one.
    • toadstool Troilus and Cressida 2.1. A mushroom nobody wants. Ajax says it to Thersites while demanding the news.
    • trencher-friend Timon of Athens 3.6. A friend for as long as the plates are full. Timon's word for his guests.
    • Triton of the minnows Coriolanus 3.1. A sea god ruling very small fish. Coriolanus on a tribune.
    • unnecessary letter King Lear 2.2. What Kent calls the letter Z, and the steward Oswald with it.
    • wagtail King Lear 2.2. A small bird that never stops bobbing. Kent's word for the bowing Oswald.
    • waterfly Hamlet 5.2. A bright insect skimming about to no purpose. Hamlet's word for the courtier Osric.
    • zed King Lear 2.2. The letter Z. Kent's point is that English could get by without it.

    Playground words 38

    • backseat driver Gives directions from a seat with no steering wheel.
    • bag of wet socks Nobody wants to open it, and nobody wants to carry it.
    • ball hog Never passes, even with three teammates waving.
    • banana peel Slippery, and left exactly where feet go.
    • bath plug Has one job, and lets the water out anyway.
    • bowl of cold oatmeal Gray, lumpy and set solid since breakfast.
    • burnt toast Black at the edges, and sets off the smoke alarm.
    • chatterbox Talks through the movie, the quiet bit and the credits.
    • copycat Waits to see what you pick, then picks the same.
    • crouton A small, dry cube of yesterday's bread.
    • drama llama Turns a dropped spoon into a three-act tragedy.
    • dust bunny A gray fluff ball that lives under the bed and grows.
    • fibber Tells small, silly untruths, like saying the cake was already cut.
    • grouch Lives in a bad mood and keeps the door shut.
    • jar of pickle juice What is left when all the pickles are gone.
    • kazoo One note, and it is a buzz.
    • know-it-all Corrects the teacher, the map and the weather forecast.
    • lazybones Would press the snooze button, but it is too far away.
    • lost mitten Spends the whole winter in the lost property box.
    • mop bucket Gray water on wheels, usually parked where you need to walk.
    • odd sock The one left over when the laundry is done. Its partner is never found.
    • pizza crust The bit left in the box after everyone has eaten the good part.
    • pocket lint The gray fuzz at the bottom of a pocket. Nobody put it there.
    • rubber chicken Floppy, squeaky and no good for dinner.
    • rules lawyer Stops the game to read page 14 aloud.
    • show-off Rides past with no hands, twice, in case you missed it.
    • slowpoke Always a block behind, asking everyone to wait up.
    • snack thief Your bag of chips was full a minute ago.
    • sock puppet Says only what the hand inside tells it to.
    • sore loser Loses the game and then wants the rules looked at.
    • spoilsport Stops the game the moment it gets fun.
    • squeaky toy Makes the same noise every time it is pressed, and loves being pressed.
    • stick-in-the-mud Will not try the new game, the new food or the new route.
    • traffic cone Bright, hollow and always in the way.
    • turnip A root vegetable that rarely gets invited to dinner.
    • used tea bag Cold, soggy and already did its one job.
    • waffle Goes on and on without reaching a point. Also a breakfast.
    • wet blanket Thrown over a good mood to put it out.

    How this list was compiled: The noun that ends the insult, in two styles. The Shakespearean nouns and noun phrases were picked for this page from the plays and checked on 2026-09-19 in the same Project Gutenberg text as the first words, by the same script; the grouping of the plays and the screening rules are set out under that list and apply here unchanged. Plurals in the text (candle-wasters, ballad-mongers, find-faults, caterpillars, pickthanks, trencher-friends, minute-jacks) are given in the singular, and shealed peascod keeps the old spelling of shelled. The playground nouns and every d line are own work. One gloss leans on a fact beyond the scene: Tybalt shares his name with Tibert or Tybalt, the prince of cats in Reynard the Fox (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tybalt, checked 2026-09-19). Licence: own work