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Etymology and origin of the English word will

English has two main words spelled will: the auxiliary verb of the future, and the noun "desire, wish, testament" with its verb "to will"; both go back to the same Germanic base.[1][2][3]

Pronunciation

will1 auxiliary verb: shall, want to

Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
c. 725 Beowulf
Inherited from
Old English willan via Middle English
Ultimate origin
Proto-Germanic *wiljaną

Etymology

The auxiliary verb is inherited from Middle English willen, also wilen (past tense wolde),[1][5][6] inherited from Old English willan, also wyllan, "to wish, desire; be willing; be about to".[5][1][7] It comes from Proto-Germanic *wiljaną,[5] and is cognate with Old Frisian willa, Old Saxon willian, Dutch willen, Old High German wellen, German wollen, Old Norse vilja and Gothic 𐍅𐌹𐌻𐌾𐌰𐌽 (wiljan), beside Gothic 𐍅𐌰𐌻𐌾𐌰𐌽 (waljan, “to choose”).[5][1][3] Outside Germanic it is related to Latin volō (“to wish”) and Welsh gwell (“better”),[5][1] from Proto-Indo-European *wel- (“to wish, will”).[5][1] The OED notes that the Old English past tense wolde may show the influence of scolde, the past of shall.[3] The noun will2 is formed from the same base.[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

To wish, desire: about 725, in Beowulf.[1] Its use as an auxiliary of the future is already found in Alfred's writings, before 899.[1][5]

Semantic evolution

The verb first meant to want or wish for something, a sense that survived as a full verb into the 19th century.[3] As a future auxiliary it was developing in Old English,[5] with a sense of intention or volition that, according to Etymonline and Barnhart, set it apart from shall, which implies obligation or necessity.[5][1] Barnhart notes that the same future use is found in Middle High German and Yiddish.[1] Contracted forms after pronouns appear in the 16th century (sheele for "she will"), and the form with an apostrophe, -'ll, in the 17th.[5][1] From 1677 will was also used as a noun for an utterance of the auxiliary, and since 1837 for the auxiliary as distinguished from shall.[3]

Timeline

  • c. 725 – Old English willan, to wish, desire, in Beowulf.[1]
  • before 899 – as an auxiliary of the future, in Alfred's writings.[1]
  • before 1121 – Middle English wilen;[1] willen before 1225.[1]
  • 16th century – contracted forms after pronouns, as sheele, she'll.[5][1]
  • 17th century – the contraction written with an apostrophe, -'ll.[5]
  • 1677 – noun, an utterance of the auxiliary will.[3]
  • 1837 – will as contrasted with shall.[3]

Meanings

Verb

  1. Used as an auxiliary to form the future tense: The train will leave at noon.[8][6]
  2. Used to express determination or a promise: I will finish this report tonight.[8]
  3. Used to express willingness, or to make a request: Will you open the window?[8]
  4. Used to give an order: You will hand in your keys at the desk.[8]
  5. Used to express ability or capacity: This shelf will hold a hundred books.[8]
  6. Used to express likelihood or expectation: That will be the postman.[8]
  7. Used to express habit or inevitability: Accidents will happen.[8]
  8. To wish or choose: Take whichever you will.[8][6]

Word family

  • wilco

will2 desire; testament; to will

Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
c. 725 Beowulf
Inherited from
Old English willian via Middle English, Old English
Ultimate origin
Proto-Germanic *wiljô

Etymology

The noun is inherited from Middle English wille, also will and wil,[5][6] inherited from Old English willa, also will, "mind, determination, purpose; desire, wish, request; joy, delight",[5][1][7] from Proto-Germanic *wiljô, a noun related to the verb will1.[5][2] It is cognate with Old Frisian willa, Old Saxon willio, Dutch wil, Old High German willo, German Wille, Old Norse vili and Gothic 𐍅𐌹𐌻𐌾𐌰 (wilja).[1][5][3] The verb "to will" is inherited from Middle English willen, inherited from Old English willian, "to determine by choice", formed from the noun;[5][1][9] it corresponds to Old High German willōn (“to comply”),[3][9] and in later use, after the 14th century, was mostly re-formed from the noun.[3] Ayto traces both words to Proto-Indo-European *wel- (“to be pleasing”), the root of voluntary, voluptuous, wealth and well.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Power of choice, wish, desire: about 725, in Beowulf.[1] The OED's earliest examples, in senses such as desire and inclination, come from Alfred's translation of Boethius.[3] The verb willian is recorded before 830.[1]

Semantic evolution

In Old English willa meant desire, wish, pleasure and delight as well as intention;[5][7] the senses of physical and sexual appetite and of joy have since died out, except that "to have no will of", to take no pleasure in, survives in Scots.[3] The sense of the mental faculty by which one chooses and acts is also Old English.[3][5] The phrases at will and against one's will date from about 1300.[5] A written document stating how a person's property is to be disposed of after death is first recorded about 1380, in Wycliffe.[1][10][5] The verb followed: to direct by will that something be done is found in Old English wills, and to bequeath property by will from about 1460.[3][5] The sense "self-control, strength of purpose" appears about 1480,[3] and the intransitive "to exercise the will" in 1582, in the Rheims Bible.[3] Johnson (1755) defined the noun first as "choice; arbitrary determination".[11]

Timeline

  • c. 725 – noun, power of choice, wish, desire, in Beowulf.[1]
  • before 830 – Old English verb willian, to determine by choice.[1]
  • c. 1300 – at will and against one's will.[5]
  • c. 1380 – a written testament disposing of property, in Wycliffe.[1][5]
  • c. 1450 – verb, to bring about or aim at by force of will.[3]
  • c. 1460 – verb, to bequeath by will.[3][5]
  • c. 1480 – self-control, strength of will.[3]
  • 1582 – intransitive verb, to exercise the will.[3]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The mental faculty by which a person deliberately chooses or decides: freedom of the will.[12][3]
  2. determination, strength of purpose; self-control: She lacked the will to give up sugar.[12][3]
  3. A desire, wish or intention, especially of someone in authority: It was the king's will that the bridge be rebuilt.[12][6]
  4. Attitude or disposition towards others, as in good will and ill will.[12][6]
  5. A legal declaration of how a person's property is to be distributed after death, or the document containing it; a testament.[12][5][10]
  6. at will: as one wishes, freely.[5][12]

Verb

  1. To decide on or bring about by the force of one's will: He willed himself to keep running.[12][3]
  2. To bequeath property by a will: She willed the cottage to her nephew.[6][3][12]
  3. To order or decree: as fate willed.[12][3]
  4. (archaic) To wish or desire.[6][12]

Word family

  • willer
  • wilful
  • goodwill
  • self-will

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  2. ^ a b c d Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  7. ^ a b c Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  9. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  10. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  11. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  12. ^ a b c d e f g h i j The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Related etymologies

  • hint · also from Old English
  • reed · also from Old English
  • nest · also from Old English
  • lo · also from Old English
  • inn · also from Old English
  • toe · also from Old English
  • span · also from Old English
  • ninth · also from Old English
Cite this entry

“Will.” Etymologically, 2 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/en/will. Accessed 2 Nov. 2026.

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