will

will · verb¹

1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*welh₁-“to choose, wish”
2. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*wiljaną
3. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*willjan
4. Old English · inherited fromwillan“to want”
5. Middle English · inherited fromwillen
6. English todaywill

From Middle English willen, wullen, wollen, from Old English willan (“to want”), from Proto-West Germanic *willjan, from Proto-Germanic *wiljaną, from Proto-Indo-European *welh₁- (“to choose, wish”). Cognates Cognate with Yola ill, weel, well, will, woul, wull (“will”), North Frisian wale, wel (“to want”), Saterland Frisian and West Frisian wolle (“to want”), Alemannic German and Central Franconian welle (“to want”), Cimbrian béllan, bölln (“to want”), Dutch willen (“to want”), German wollen (“to want”), Low German wüllen (“to want; will”), Luxembourgish wëllen (“to want”), Yiddish וועלן (veln, “to want”), Danish and Norwegian Bokmål ville (“to want”), Faroese, Icelandic, and Swedish vilja (“to want”), Jamtish vili (“to want; wish”), Norwegian Nynorsk vilja, vilje (“want; will”), Gothic 𐍅𐌹𐌻𐌾𐌰𐌽 (wiljan, “to want”); also Latin velle (“wish”, verb), voleō, volo (“to please, to wish; to want”), French vouloir (“to want”), Italian volere (“to want”), Irish fleá, fleadh (“feast”), Scottish Gaelic fleadh (“feast”), Welsh gwledd (“banquet, feast”), Lithuanian viltis (“to hope; to rely; to expect”), Czech velet (“to command”), volit (“to choose; to elect”), Polish woleć (“to prefer”), Russian во́ля (vólja, “freedom”), во́льный (vólʹnyj, “free”), веле́ть (velétʹ, “to command, to enjoin, to order”), Ukrainian воля (volja, “freedom, liberty, will”), вільний (vilʹnyj, “free”), веліти (velity, “to will, to order, to command”), воліти (volity, “to will, to prefer”), Old Armenian գեղձ (gełj, “desire, wish”), Sanskrit वृणीते (vṛṇīte), वृणोति (vṛṇoti, “to choose”). The verb is not always distinguishable from Etymology 3, below. (indicating future action): Compare typologically Bulgarian ще (šte), Macedonian ќе (ḱe), Serbo-Croatian хтети (< Proto-Slavic *xotěti).

will · noun²

1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*welh₁-“to choose, wish”
2. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*wiljô“desire, will”
3. Old English · inherited fromwilla
4. Middle English · inherited fromwille
5. English todaywill

From Middle English wille, from Old English willa (compare verb willian), from Proto-Germanic *wiljô (“desire, will”), from Proto-Indo-European *welh₁- (“to choose, wish”). Cognate with Dutch wil, German Wille, Swedish vilja, Norwegian vilje.

will · verb³

1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*welh₁-“to choose, wish”
2. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*willjōn“to will”
3. Old English · inherited fromwillian“to will”
4. Middle English · inherited fromwillen
5. English todaywill

From Middle English willen, from Old English willian (“to will”), from Proto-West Germanic *willjōn (“to will”), from Proto-Indo-European *welh₁- (“to choose, wish”). Cognate with German Low German willen, German willen. The verb is not always distinguishable from Etymology 1, above.

Will · proper noun, noun⁴

1. Proto-Indo-European*welh₁-
2. Proto-Germanic*wiljaną
3. Proto-Germanic*wiljô
4. Proto-Indo-European*ḱel-
5. Proto-Indo-European*ḱelmos?
6. Proto-Germanic*helmaz
7. Proto-Germanic*Wiljahelmaz
8. Frankish*Willahelm
9. Anglo-NormanWillame
10. Middle EnglishWilliam
11. EnglishWilliamclip.
12. Englishwillow
13. EnglishWillowclip.
14. English todayWill

Clipping of William or Willow, less often, other given names beginning with Wil-, such as Wilfred or Willard.

Words from the same roots

First known use, by meaning

• from 10th c. Used to express the future tense, sometimes with an implication of volition or determination when used in the first person. Compare shall.
• from 14th c. To be able to, to have the capacity to.
• from 15th c. Expressing a present tense or perfect tense with some conditional or subjective weakening: "will turn out to", "must by inference".
• from 9th c. To habitually do (a given action).
• from 10th c. To choose or agree to (do something); used to express intention but without any temporal connotations, often in questions and negation.
• chiefly 9th–19th c. To wish, desire (something).
• 9th–19th c. To wish or desire (that something happen); to intend (that).
• from 9th c. One's independent faculty of choice; the ability to be able to exercise one's choice or intention.