Victorian-era novelist Charles Dickens is renowned for his contributions to the English language, especially with eponyms — words created after people’s names. While Dickens himself didn’t coin these words (as he did “messiness,” “sawbones,” and “comfoozled”), his characters are so vivid that their names have been adapted to describe many human traits. “Pickwickian” describes a jovial, generous sort; to be “micawberish” is to be optimistic against all odds; and perhaps most notably, a “scrooge” is a miserly misanthrope.