Etymology

wills

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Today it means: A surname originating as a patronymic, meaning “son/daughter of Will”. Full definition →

English Will ← Middle English William ← Anglo-Norman Willame
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Wills · proper noun1

  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. EnglishWill
  15. English todayWills

From Will + -s (patronymic suffix).

Wills · proper noun2

From the clipping of William + -s (hypocoristic suffix).

Wills · noun3

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.