Etymology

wilsome

W4I1L1S1O1M3E1

Today it means: Willful; obstinate; stubborn. Full definition →

Middle English wilsom
Ask AI about its historyChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

wilsome · adjective1

  1. Middle English · inherited fromwilsom
  2. English todaywilsome

From Middle English wilsom, equivalent to will (“desire”) + -some.

wilsome · adjective2

  1. Old Norse · derived fromvillusamr“erroneous, false”
  2. Middle English · inherited fromwilsum
  3. English todaywilsome

From Middle English wilsum, wilsom, wildsom, probably after Old Norse villusamr (“erroneous, false”), equivalent to will (“wild”) + -some. Cognate with Scots wilsum (“treacherous, wandering”), Old Swedish villsam (“gone astray, perplexing”), modern Swedish villsam (“perplexing, embarrassing”), Danish vildsom (“perplexed, intricate”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.