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Etymology data from Wiktionary via Wiktextract (CC BY-SA 4.0). Chinese character data from the 說文解字, the Taiwan MOE 國語辭典簡編本 (CC BY-ND 3.0 TW) and HSK/TOCFL lists.

Explanations are written by a local model (gemma4) and only published after a verification pass against the cited sources. How it works.

English

will

/wɪl/
Used to express the future tense, sometimes with an implication of volition or determination when used in the first person. Compare shall.

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    Origin

    Etymology 1

    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).

    Etymology 2

    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.

    Etymology 3

    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.

    From Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.

    Lineage

    • rootProto-Indo-European*welh₁- “wish, desire”
    • inheritedMiddle Englishwillen
      • inheritedOld Englishwillan “to want”
        • inheritedProto-West Germanic*willjan
          • inheritedProto-Germanic*wiljaną
      • inheritedOld Englishwillian “to will”
        • inheritedProto-West Germanic*willjōn “to will”
    • inheritedMiddle Englishwille
      • inheritedOld Englishwilla “mind, will, determination, purpose, desire, wish, request, joy, delight, pleasure”
        • inheritedProto-Germanic*Wiljamērijaz
          • partProto-Germanic*wiljô “wish, desire”
          • partProto-Germanic*mērijaz

    Related: Yola ill, North Frisian wale, stq,fy wolle, gsw,gmw-cfr welle, Cimbrian béllan, Dutch willen, German wollen, Low German wüllen, Luxembourgish wëllen, Yiddish וועלן, da,nb ville, fo,is,sv vilja, Jamtish vili, Norwegian Nynorsk vilja, Gothic 𐍅𐌹𐌻𐌾𐌰𐌽, Latin velle, French vouloir, Italian volere, Irish fleá, Scottish Gaelic fleadh, Welsh gwledd, Lithuanian viltis, Czech velet, Polish woleć

    Words built on it: with a will, well-will, won't, self-will

    Meanings

    verb
    1. Used to express the future tense, sometimes with an implication of volition or determination when used in the first person. Compare shall.
    2. To be able to, to have the capacity to.
    3. Expressing a present tense or perfect tense with some conditional or subjective weakening: "will turn out to", "must by inference".
    4. To habitually do (a given action).
    5. To choose or agree to (do something); used to express intention but without any temporal connotations, often in questions and negation.
    6. To wish, desire (something).
    noun
    1. One's independent faculty of choice; the ability to be able to exercise one's choice or intention.
    2. The act of choosing to do something; a person’s conscious intent or volition.
    3. One's intention or decision; someone's orders or commands.
    4. Firmness of purpose, fixity of intent
    5. A formal declaration of one's intent concerning the disposal of one's property and holdings after death; the legal document stating such wishes.
    6. That which is desired; one's wish.

    Sources

    • Wiktionary (via Wiktextract / kaikki.org) — CC BY-SA 4.0
    • Wiktionary: will