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English
Pronunciation
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”).
Cognate with Dutch willen, Low German willen, German wollen, Swedish and Norwegian Nynorsk vilja, Norwegian Bokmål ville, Latin velle (“wish”, verb), Latin volo, French vouloir, Italian volere, and Albanian vel (“to satisfy, be stuffed”). The verb is not always distinguishable from Etymology 3, below.
Alternative forms
Verb
will (third-person singular simple present will, present participle willing, simple past would, no past participle)
- (auxiliary) Used to express the future tense, sometimes with an implication of volition or determination when used in the first person. Compare shall.
One of our salesmen will visit you tomorrow.
I will pass this exam.
c. 1601–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Twelfe Night, or What You Will”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :Good fool, as ever thou wilt deserve well at my hand, help me to a candle, and pen, ink and paper : as I am a gentleman, I will live to be thankful to thee for’t.
1859, Charles Dickens, chapter 4, in A Tale of Two Cities, London: Chapman and Hall, , →OCLC:“I will, with your leave, relate to you, miss, the story of one of our customers.”
- (auxiliary) To be able to, to have the capacity to.
Unfortunately, only one of these gloves will actually fit over my hand.
- (auxiliary) Expressing a present tense or perfect tense with some conditional or subjective weakening: "will turn out to", "must by inference".
He will be home by now. He always gets home before 6 o'clock.
I can't find my umbrella. I will have left it at home this morning.
2007, Edward Jesko, The Polish:“That will be five zloty.” I reached into my pocket and came up with some coins.
2012, Penny Freedman, All The Daughters:Unless she diverted on the ten minute walk home, she’ll have got home at about half past.
- (auxiliary) To habitually do (a given action).
1611, The Holy Bible, (King James Version), London: Robert Barker, , →OCLC, Luke 17:7–8:But which of you hauing a seruant plowing, or feeding cattell, will say vnto him by & by when he is come from the field, Goe and sit downe to meate? And will not rather say vnto him, Make ready wherewith I may suppe, and gird thy selfe, and serue me, till I haue eaten and drunken: and afterward thou shalt eate and drinke.
2009, Stephen Bayley, The Telegraph, 24 Sep 09:How telling is it that many women will volunteer for temporary disablement by wearing high heeled shoes that hobble them?
2011, “Connubial bliss in America”, in The Economist:So far neither side has scored a decisive victory, though each will occasionally claim one.
- (auxiliary) To choose or agree to (do something); used to express intention but without any temporal connotations, often in questions and negation.
Will you marry me?
I’ve told him three times, but he won’t take his medicine.
- (now uncommon or literary, transitive) To wish, desire (something).
Do what you will.
God willed it.
c. 1450, The Macro Plays:If thou wilt fare well at meat and meal, come and follow me.
1601, William Shakespeare, Twelfth Night, or What You Will:Twelfe Night, Or what you will (original spelling)
1611, The Holy Bible, (King James Version), London: Robert Barker, , →OCLC, Matthew 8:2:And behold, there came a leper and worshipped him, saying, Lord if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean.
1944, St. Augustine, translated by FJ Sheed, Confessions:Grant what Thou dost command, and command what Thou wilt.
- (now rare, intransitive) To wish or desire (that something happen); to intend (that).
1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: , 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Printed by John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC:see God's goodwill toward men, hear how generally his grace is proposed, to him, and him, and them, each man in particular, and to all. 1 Tim. ii. 4. "God will that all men be saved, and come to the knowledge of the truth."
- (archaic) Implying will go.
c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals):I’ll to England.
Usage notes
- Historically, will was used in the simple future sense only in the second and third person, while shall was used in the first person. Today, that distinction is almost entirely lost, and the verb takes the same form in all persons and both numbers. Similarly, in the intent sense, will was historically used with the second and third person, while shall was reserved for the first person. See also the usage note at shall.
- The present tense is will and the past tense is would. Early Modern English had a past participle would which is now obsolete.
- Malory: ‘Many tymes he myghte haue had her and he had wold’. John Done: ‘If hee had would, hee might easily occupied the Monarchy.’
- Formerly, will could be used elliptically for "will go" — e.g. "I'll to her lodgings" (Marlowe).
- The present participle does not apply to the uses of will as an auxiliary verb.
- The form of will with the enclitic -n't (or the present tense negative form of will in the analysis in which -n't is an inflectional suffix) is won't (“will not”) (rather than the form that would be expected based on a regular application of -n't, willn't), while the corresponding form of the past tense would is wouldn't.
Derived terms
Translations
- Ancient Greek: ἐθέλω (ethélō), θέλω (thélō) (later), βούλομαι (boúlomai)
- Armenian: ցանկանալ (hy) (cʿankanal)
- Bulgarian: искам (bg) (iskam), желая (bg) (želaja)
- Catalan: desitjar (ca)
- Cornish: mynnes
- Dutch: willen (nl)
- Esperanto: voli (eo)
- Finnish: aikoa (fi)
- French: vouloir (fr)
- German: wollen (de)
- Hungarian: akar (hu), kíván (hu), óhajt (hu), rendel (hu)
- Italian: volere (it)
- Japanese: 望む (ja) (のぞむ, nozomu), 希望する (ja) (きぼうする, kibō suru), 願う (ja) (ねがう, negau)
- Macedonian: посакува impf (posakuva), посака pf (posaka), пожелува impf (poželuva), пожели pf (poželi)
- Norwegian: ville (no)
- Portuguese: desejar (pt)
- Russian: жела́ть (ru) impf (želátʹ), пожела́ть (ru) pf (poželátʹ)
- Spanish: desear (es), anhelar (es)
- Swedish: vilja (sv)
- Turkish: istek (tr)
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indicating future action
- American Sign Language: OpenB@NearSideNosehigh-FingerUp OpenB@SideNosehigh-FingerForward
- Arabic: سَوْفَ (ar) (sawfa) + present tense, سَـ (ar) (sa-) + present tense
- Egyptian Arabic: prefix هـ (ha-) or حـ (ḥa-) + present tense
- North Levantine Arabic: رح (raḥ) or حـ (ḥa-)
- South Levantine Arabic: رح (raḥ) or حـ (ḥa-)
- Tunisian Arabic: باش (bēš)
- Belarusian: Use the future perfective or use the future of быць (bycʹ) + imperfective infinitive
- Belizean Creole: wahn
- Bulgarian: ще (bg) (šte) (+ present form)
- Burmese: နောင် (my) (naung), မည် (my) (many), အံ့ (my) (am.)
- Catalan: anar (ca) (alternatively use the future tense)
- Chinese:
- Cantonese: 會/会 (wui5, wui3)
- Mandarin: 將/将 (zh) (jiāng), 要 (zh) (yào), 將要/将要 (zh) (jiāngyào), 會/会 (zh) (huì)
- Czech: Use the future perfective or use the future of být + imperfective infinitive
- Danish: vil (da), skal (da)
- Dutch: zullen (nl)
- Esperanto: -os (eo) Use the future tense
- Finnish: Use the present tense, tulla (fi), aikoa (fi)
- French: Use the future tense -rai, -ras, -ra, -rons, -rez, -ront, e.g. J’irai au magasin.; (colloquial) aller (fr)
- German: werden (de), present tense form is often used
- Greek: Use θα + subjunctive verb form (future simple) or present verb form (future continuous e.g. θα δω or θα βλέπω
- Ancient: Use the future tense
- Hebrew: עָתִיד (he) m ('atíd)
- Hindi: होंगे (hoṅge) (hoṅge)
- Hungarian: (emphatically, cf. "going to") fog (hu), (the present tense may suffice when the meaning is clear)
- Ido: suffix -os after verbal roots
- Indonesian: akan (id)
- Italian: Use the future tense -rò, -rai, -rà, -remo, -rete, -ranno, e.g. Andrò al negozio.
- Japanese: present/future tense form is usually used
- Khmer: នឹង (km) (nɨng) (prefix)
- Korean: ᆯ 것이다 (l geosida), ᆯ게 (lge)
- Kurdish:
- Northern Kurdish: dê (ku), ê (ku)
- Lao: ຈະ (cha), ຈິ (chi), ຊິ (si), ຈັກ (chak) (obsolete)
- Latin: Use the future tense
- Lithuanian: Use the future tense
- Luxembourgish: wäerten
- Macedonian: ќе (ḱe) (+ present form)
- Malay: akan (ms)
- Navajo: dooleeł
- Norwegian:
- Bokmål: vil (no), kommer til å, skal (no)
- Old English: Use the present tense; (more rarely) willan (ang), sċulan
- Persian: خواستن (fa) (xâstan)
- Polish: Use the future perfective or use the future of być + imperfective infinitive
- Portuguese: Use the future tense; (colloquial) use present indicative forms of ir (pt)
- Russian: Use the future perfective or use the future of быть (bytʹ) + imperfective infinitive
- I will be going back and forth to the post office — Я буду ходи́ть на по́чту
- I will be going to the post office — Я бу́ду идти́ на по́чту
- I will go to the post office — Я пойду́ на по́чту
- Serbo-Croatian:
- Cyrillic: хтети, хтјети
- Roman: hteti, htjeti (sh)
- Slovak: Use the future perfective or use the future of byť + imperfective infinitive
- Slovene: biti (sl)
- Spanish: future tense, ir a
- Swahili: -ta-
- Swedish: komma till att, komma att, skola (sv), vilja (sv), tänka (sv)
- I will go to the store — Jag ska gå till affären or Jag kommer att gå till affären
- Thai: จะ (th) (jà)
- Turkish: (2): suffix for all verbs: -ecek (if the last vowel of a verb is e,i,ö or ü) or -acak (if the vowel is a,ı,o or u).
- Ukrainian: Use the future perfective or use the future of бу́ти (búty) + imperfective infinitive; special endings, e.g. "I will walk": ходи́тиму (ходи́ти (xodýty) + иму)
- Vietnamese: sẽ (vi)
- West Frisian: sille, gean (fy)
- Yapese: ra
- Yiddish: וועלן (veln)
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See also
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.
Alternative forms
Noun
will (plural wills)
- One's independent faculty of choice; the ability to be able to exercise one's choice or intention.
Of course, man's will is often regulated by his reason.
- The act of choosing to do something; a person’s conscious intent or volition.
Most creatures have a will to live.
2012 May 27, Nathan Rabin, “TV: Review: THE SIMPSONS (CLASSIC): “New Kid On The Block” (season 4, episode 8; originally aired 11/12/1992)”, in The Onion AV Club:The episode’s unwillingness to fully commit to the pathos of the Bart-and-Laura subplot is all the more frustrating considering its laugh quota is more than filled by a rollicking B-story that finds Homer, he of the iron stomach and insatiable appetite, filing a lawsuit against The Frying Dutchman when he’s hauled out of the eatery against his will after consuming all of the restaurant’s shrimp (plus two plastic lobsters).
- One's intention or decision; someone's orders or commands.
Eventually I submitted to my parents' will.
- Firmity of purpose, fixity of intent
- Synonyms: determination, firmness, resoluteness, resolve
1998, John Skorupski,
, Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy , Mill, John Stuart (1806–73):
- Thus Mill’s case for the claim that happiness is the sole human end, put more carefully, is this: ‘Whatever is desired otherwise than as a means to some end beyond itself, and ultimately to happiness, is desired as itself a part of happiness, and is not desired for itself until has become so’ (1861a: 237). Nothing here assumed Hume’s view that every action must ultimately flow from an underived desire. That is a quite separate issue, and Mill’s view of it is closer to that of Kant or Reid than to that of Hume. He insists ‘positively and emphatically’ that the will is a different thing from desire; that a person of confirmed virtue, or any other person whose purposes are fixed, carries out his purposes without any thought of the pleasure he has in contemplating them, or expects to derive from their fulfilment. (1861a: 238) This distinction between purpose and desire is central to Mill’s conception of the will. When we develop purposes we can will against mere likings or aversions: ‘In the case of an habitual purpose, instead of willing the thing because we desire it, we often desire it only because we will it’ (1861a: 238). Every action is caused by a motive, but not every motive is a liking or aversion: When the will is said to be determined by motives, a motive does not mean always, or solely, the anticipation of a pleasure or of a pain…. A habit of willing is commonly called a purpose; and among the causes of our volitions, and of the actions which flow from them, must be reckoned not only likings and aversions, but also purposes. (1843: 842) The formation of purposes from desires is the evolution of will; it is also the development of character. Mill quotes Novalis: ‘a character is a completely fashioned will’ (1843: 843).
2015, Dr. Harlan K. Ullman,
Huffington Post 31 May 2015., "Winston Spencer Ghani":
- ...surely the link could not have been with Churchill the brilliant, gallant and steadfast wartime leader who, by dint of character, will and language, turned near defeat into victory.
- (law) A formal declaration of one's intent concerning the disposal of one's property and holdings after death; the legal document stating such wishes.
- Synonyms: testament, last will, last will and testament
1928, Lawrence R. Bourne, chapter 1, in Well Tackled!:“Uncle Barnaby was always father and mother to me,” Benson broke in; then after a pause his mind flew off at a tangent. “Is old Hannah all right—in the will, I mean?”
- (archaic) That which is desired; one's wish.
- (archaic) Desire, longing. (Now generally merged with later senses.)
He felt a great will to make a pilgrimage to the Holy Land.
Derived terms
Collocations
(conscious intent or volition):
Descendants
Translations
one's independent faculty of choice
act of choosing to do something; conscious intent or volition
- Albanian: vullnet (sq) m
- Arabic: رَغْبَة f (raḡba), إرَادَة (ar) f (ʔirāda)
- Armenian: կամք (hy) (kamkʿ)
- Azerbaijani: iradə (az), ixtiyar (az)
- Bashkir: ихтыяр (ixtıyar)
- Basque: gogo, nahi
- Belarusian: во́ля f (vólja)
- Bulgarian: во́ля (bg) f (vólja)
- Catalan: voluntat (ca) f, albir (ca) m
- Cebuano: buot, pagbuot
- Chinese:
- Mandarin: 意志 (zh) (yìzhì)
- Czech: vůle (cs) f
- Dalmatian: voluntuot
- Danish: vilje c
- Dutch: wil (nl) m, wens (nl) m
- Esperanto: volo
- Estonian: tahe
- Ewe: lɔ̃lɔ̃nu
- Faroese: vilji m
- Finnish: tahto (fi), halu (fi)
- French: volonté (fr) f
- Friulian: volontât f
- Galician: vontade (gl) f, albidro m
- Georgian: ნება (neba), სურვილი (survili)
- German: Wille (de) m
- Gothic: 𐍅𐌹𐌻𐌾𐌰 m (wilja)
- Greek: βούληση (el) f (voúlisi), θέληση (el) f (thélisi)
- Ancient: θέλημα n (thélēma)
- Hebrew: רָצוֹן (he) m (ratsón), אָבָה (he) (ava)
- Hindi: इच्छा (hi) f (icchā)
- Hungarian: szándék (hu), akarat (hu)
- Indonesian: hendak (id)
- Irish: deoin f
- Italian: volontà (it) f
- Japanese: 意志 (ja) (いし, ishi)
- Kazakh: ерік (kk) (erık), ықтияр (yqtiär)
- Korean: 의지(意志) (ko) (uiji)
- Kyrgyz: ыктыяр (ky) (ıktıyar)
- Latin: voluntas
- Lithuanian: valia, noras (lt)
- Luxembourgish: Wëllen m
- Macedonian: волја f (volja)
- Maori: takune, whakaaro, e (before verb), ka (mi) (before verb)
- Ngazidja Comorian: nyandzo class 9/10
- Nogai: эрк (érk)
- Norwegian:
- Bokmål: vilje (no) m, ønske (no) n
- Occitan: volontat (oc)
- Old Church Slavonic:
- Cyrillic: волꙗ f (volja)
- Old Norse: vili m
- Persian: آرزو (fa) (ârezu), خواسته (fa) (xâste), اختیار (fa) (extiyâr)
- Plautdietsch: Wellen m
- Polish: wola (pl) f
- Portuguese: vontade (pt) f
- Romanian: voință (ro) f
- Romansch: voluntad, volunted, voluntà
- Russian: во́ля (ru) f (vólja)
- Sanskrit: इच्छा (sa) f (icchā)
- Sardinian: bolontade, boluntadi, volontade
- Serbo-Croatian:
- Cyrillic: во̏ља f
- Roman: vȍlja (sh) f
- Slovak: vôľa f
- Slovene: volja (sl) f
- Sorbian:
- Lower Sorbian: wóla f
- Upper Sorbian: wola f
- Spanish: voluntad (es) f, albedrío (es) m
- Swedish: vilja (sv) c, önskan (sv) c
- Tajik: ихтиёр (tg) (ixtiyor), ирода (iroda), орзу (tg) (orzu)
- Tatar: ихтыяр (tt) (ixtıyar)
- Tocharian A: kri
- Turkish: irade (tr)
- Ukrainian: во́ля (uk) f (vólja)
- Uzbek: iroda (uz), ixtiyor (uz)
- Welsh: ewyllys (cy) f
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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.
Verb
will (third-person singular simple present wills, present participle willing, simple past and past participle willed or (rare) would)
- (transitive, intransitive) To instruct (that something be done) in one's will.
- (transitive) To bequeath (something) to someone in one's will (legal document).
He willed his stamp collection to the local museum.
- (transitive) To exert one's force of will (intention) in order to compel, or attempt to compel, something to happen or someone to do something.
All the fans were willing their team to win the game.
1613 (date written), William Shakespeare, [John Fletcher], “The Famous History of the Life of King Henry the Eight”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :They willed me say so, madam.
c. 1612–1615?, John Fletcher, Francis Beaumont, revised by Philip Massinger, “Loves Cure or, The Martial Maid”, in Comedies and Tragedies , London: Humphrey Robinson, , and for Humphrey Moseley , published 1647, →OCLC, Act I, scene ii:Send for music, / And will the cooks to use their best of cunning / To please the palate.
Synonyms
Derived terms
Translations
See also
Cahuilla
Etymology
From Proto-Uto-Aztecan *wip.
Noun
wíll
- fat, grease
German
Pronunciation
Verb
will
- first/third-person singular present of wollen
Polish
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /vill/
- Rhymes: -ill
- Syllabification: will
Noun
will f
- genitive plural of willa
Yola
Verb
will
- Alternative form of woul (“will”)
1867, GLOSSARY OF THE DIALECT OF FORTH AND BARGY, page 59:Note will wee dra aaght to-die?- I don't know will we draw any to-day?
1867, “BIT OF DIALOGUE”, in SONGS, ETC. IN THE DIALECT OF FORTH AND BARGY, page 111:Caulès will na get to wullaw to-die.- Horses will not get to wallow to-day.
Noun
will
- Alternative form of woul (“will”)
1867, “ABOUT AN OLD SOW GOING TO BE KILLED”, in SONGS, ETC. IN THE DIALECT OF FORTH AND BARGY, number 1, page 106:Ich aam goan maake mee will.- I am going to make my will.
References
- Jacob Poole (d. 1827) (before 1828) William Barnes, editor, A Glossary, With some Pieces of Verse, of the old Dialect of the English Colony in the Baronies of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland, London: J. Russell Smith, published 1867, page 59