will

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• /wɪl/
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• US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
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• homophone: will
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• rhymes with -ɪl
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• Received-Pronunciation, US: [wɪɫ]
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• Received-Pronunciation, US: wĭl
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• Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
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• US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
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• [wɪo̯] l-vocalizing: UK, Australian, New Zealand
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• [wɪʊ̯] l-vocalizing: UK, Australian, New Zealand
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• CMU ARPABET: W IH1 L Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
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• CMU ARPABET 2: W AH0 L Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
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Clipping of William or, less often, other given names beginning with Wil-, such as Wilfred or Willard.

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.

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).

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.

327 source translations are retained for this English entry.

• Bulgarian: Уи́л (Uíl) — diminutive of William
• Chinese Mandarin: 威爾 /威尔 (Wēi'ěr) — diminutive of William
• Dutch: Jelle — diminutive of William
• Dutch: Wil — diminutive of William
• Dutch: Wim — diminutive of William
• Dutch: Pim — diminutive of William
• Finnish: Ville — diminutive of William
• Finnish: Vili — diminutive of William
• Finnish: Vilho — diminutive of William
• French: Guillon — diminutive of William
• German: Willi — diminutive of William
• German: Willy — diminutive of William
• German: Wim — diminutive of William
• Greek: Γουίλ (Gouíl) — diminutive of William
• Hebrew: וויל — diminutive of William
• Hungarian: Vili — diminutive of William
• Japanese: ウィル — diminutive of William
• Latvian: Vilis — diminutive of William
• Limburgish: Wum — diminutive of William
• Portuguese: Gui — diminutive of William
• Russian: Уиллом (Uillom) — diminutive of William
• Serbo-Croatian: Vilko — diminutive of William
• Slovene: Vilko — diminutive of William
• Slovene: Vili — diminutive of William
• Spanish: Guille — diminutive of William
• Swedish: Ville — diminutive of William
• Welsh: Gwil — diminutive of William
• Arabic: إرَادَة (ʔirāda) — one's independent faculty of choice
• Bashkir: ихтыяр (ixtıyar) — one's independent faculty of choice
• Belarusian: во́ля (vólja) — one's independent faculty of choice
• Bulgarian: во́ля (vólja) — one's independent faculty of choice
• Catalan: lliure albir — one's independent faculty of choice
• Dutch: wil — one's independent faculty of choice
• Estonian: tahe — one's independent faculty of choice
• Finnish: tahto — one's independent faculty of choice
• German: Wille — one's independent faculty of choice
• Hindi: इच्छा (icchā) — one's independent faculty of choice
• Hungarian: akarat — one's independent faculty of choice
• Indonesian: kehendak — one's independent faculty of choice
• Latin: arbitrium — one's independent faculty of choice
• Latin: voluntas — one's independent faculty of choice
• Norwegian Bokmål: vilje — one's independent faculty of choice
• Polish: wola — one's independent faculty of choice
• Portuguese: arbítrio — one's independent faculty of choice
• Russian: во́ля (vólja) — one's independent faculty of choice
• Slovene: volja — one's independent faculty of choice
• Thai: เจตจํานง — one's independent faculty of choice
• Thai: ปณิธาน (bpà-ní-taan) — one's independent faculty of choice
• Thai: ประณิธาน — one's independent faculty of choice
• Turkish: irade — one's independent faculty of choice
• Ukrainian: во́ля (vólja) — one's independent faculty of choice
• Welsh: ewyllys — one's independent faculty of choice
• Arabic: إرَادَة (ʔirāda) — intention or decision
• Bulgarian: намере́ние (namerénie) — intention or decision
• Catalan: voluntat — intention or decision
• Estonian: tahe — intention or decision
• Finnish: tahto — intention or decision
• German: Wille — intention or decision
• Hindi: इच्छा (icchā) — intention or decision
• Hindi: संकल्प (saṅkalp) — intention or decision
• Hungarian: szándék — intention or decision
• Hungarian: döntés — intention or decision
• Hungarian: kívánság — intention or decision
• Hungarian: óhaj — intention or decision
• Norwegian Bokmål: vilje — intention or decision
• Norwegian Bokmål: krav — intention or decision
• Polish: wola — intention or decision
• Russian: во́ля (vólja) — intention or decision
• Russian: наме́рение (namérenije) — intention or decision
• Slovene: volja — intention or decision
• Thai: ปณิธาน (bpà-ní-taan) — intention or decision
• Thai: ประณิธาน — intention or decision
• Turkish: irade — intention or decision
• Albanian: vullnet — act of choosing to do something; conscious intent or volition
• Arabic: رَغْبَة (raḡba) — act of choosing to do something; conscious intent or volition
• Arabic: إرَادَة (ʔirāda) — act of choosing to do something; conscious intent or volition
• Armenian: կամք (kamkʻ) — act of choosing to do something; conscious intent or volition
• Azerbaijani: iradə — act of choosing to do something; conscious intent or volition
• Azerbaijani: ixtiyar — act of choosing to do something; conscious intent or volition
• Bashkir: ихтыяр (ixtıyar) — act of choosing to do something; conscious intent or volition
• Basque: gogo — act of choosing to do something; conscious intent or volition
• Basque: nahi — act of choosing to do something; conscious intent or volition
• Belarusian: во́ля (vólja) — act of choosing to do something; conscious intent or volition
• Bulgarian: во́ля (vólja) — act of choosing to do something; conscious intent or volition
• Catalan: voluntat — act of choosing to do something; conscious intent or volition
• Catalan: albir — act of choosing to do something; conscious intent or volition
• Cebuano: buot — act of choosing to do something; conscious intent or volition
• Cebuano: pagbuot — act of choosing to do something; conscious intent or volition
• Chinese Mandarin: 意志 (yìzhì) — act of choosing to do something; conscious intent or volition
• Ngazidja Comorian: nyandzo — act of choosing to do something; conscious intent or volition
• Czech: vůle — act of choosing to do something; conscious intent or volition
• Dalmatian: voluntuot — act of choosing to do something; conscious intent or volition
• Danish: vilje — act of choosing to do something; conscious intent or volition
• Dutch: wil — act of choosing to do something; conscious intent or volition
• Dutch: wens — act of choosing to do something; conscious intent or volition
• Esperanto: volo — act of choosing to do something; conscious intent or volition
• Estonian: tahe — act of choosing to do something; conscious intent or volition
• Ewe: lɔ̃lɔ̃nu — act of choosing to do something; conscious intent or volition
• Faroese: vilji — act of choosing to do something; conscious intent or volition
• Finnish: tahto — act of choosing to do something; conscious intent or volition
• Finnish: halu — act of choosing to do something; conscious intent or volition
• French: volonté — act of choosing to do something; conscious intent or volition
• Friulian: volontât — act of choosing to do something; conscious intent or volition
• Galician: vontade — act of choosing to do something; conscious intent or volition
• Galician: albidro — act of choosing to do something; conscious intent or volition
• Georgian: ნება (neba) — act of choosing to do something; conscious intent or volition
• Georgian: სურვილი (survili) — act of choosing to do something; conscious intent or volition
• German: Wille — act of choosing to do something; conscious intent or volition
• Gothic: 𐍅𐌹𐌻𐌾𐌰 (wilja) — act of choosing to do something; conscious intent or volition
• Greek: βούληση (voúlisi) — act of choosing to do something; conscious intent or volition
• Greek: θέληση (thélisi) — act of choosing to do something; conscious intent or volition
• Ancient Greek: θέλημα (thélēma) — act of choosing to do something; conscious intent or volition
• Hebrew: רָצוֹן (ratsón) — act of choosing to do something; conscious intent or volition
• Hebrew: אָבָה (ava) — act of choosing to do something; conscious intent or volition
• Hindi: इच्छा (icchā) — act of choosing to do something; conscious intent or volition
• Hungarian: szándék — act of choosing to do something; conscious intent or volition
• Hungarian: akarat — act of choosing to do something; conscious intent or volition
• Indonesian: hendak — act of choosing to do something; conscious intent or volition
• Irish: deoin — act of choosing to do something; conscious intent or volition
• Italian: volontà — act of choosing to do something; conscious intent or volition
• Japanese: 意志 (ishi) — act of choosing to do something; conscious intent or volition
• Kazakh: ерік (erık) — act of choosing to do something; conscious intent or volition
• Kazakh: ықтияр (yqtiär) — act of choosing to do something; conscious intent or volition
• Korean: 의지 (uiji) — act of choosing to do something; conscious intent or volition
• Kyrgyz: ыктыяр (ıktıyar) — act of choosing to do something; conscious intent or volition
• Latin: voluntas — act of choosing to do something; conscious intent or volition
• Lithuanian: valia — act of choosing to do something; conscious intent or volition
• Lithuanian: noras — act of choosing to do something; conscious intent or volition
• Luxembourgish: Wëllen — act of choosing to do something; conscious intent or volition
• Macedonian: волја (volja) — act of choosing to do something; conscious intent or volition
• Māori: takune — act of choosing to do something; conscious intent or volition
• Māori: whakaaro — act of choosing to do something; conscious intent or volition
• Māori: e — act of choosing to do something; conscious intent or volition
• Māori: ka — act of choosing to do something; conscious intent or volition
• Nogai: эрк (érk) — act of choosing to do something; conscious intent or volition
• Norwegian Bokmål: vilje — act of choosing to do something; conscious intent or volition
• Norwegian Bokmål: ønske — act of choosing to do something; conscious intent or volition
• Occitan: volontat — act of choosing to do something; conscious intent or volition
• Church Slavic: волꙗ (volja) — act of choosing to do something; conscious intent or volition
• Old Norse: vili — act of choosing to do something; conscious intent or volition
• Persian: آرزو (ârezu) — act of choosing to do something; conscious intent or volition
• Persian: خواسته (xâste) — act of choosing to do something; conscious intent or volition
• Persian: اختیار (extiyâr) — act of choosing to do something; conscious intent or volition
• Plautdietsch: Wellen — act of choosing to do something; conscious intent or volition
• Polish: wola — act of choosing to do something; conscious intent or volition
• Portuguese: vontade — act of choosing to do something; conscious intent or volition
• Romanian: voință — act of choosing to do something; conscious intent or volition
• Romansh: voluntad — act of choosing to do something; conscious intent or volition
• Romansh: volunted — act of choosing to do something; conscious intent or volition
• Romansh: voluntà — act of choosing to do something; conscious intent or volition
• Russian: во́ля (vólja) — act of choosing to do something; conscious intent or volition
• Sanskrit: इच्छा (icchā) — act of choosing to do something; conscious intent or volition
• Sardinian: bolontade — act of choosing to do something; conscious intent or volition
• Sardinian: boluntadi — act of choosing to do something; conscious intent or volition
• Sardinian: volontade — act of choosing to do something; conscious intent or volition
• Serbo-Croatian: во̏ља — act of choosing to do something; conscious intent or volition
• Serbo-Croatian: vȍlja — act of choosing to do something; conscious intent or volition
• Slovak: vôľa — act of choosing to do something; conscious intent or volition
• Slovene: volja — act of choosing to do something; conscious intent or volition
• Lower Sorbian: wóla — act of choosing to do something; conscious intent or volition
• Upper Sorbian: wola — act of choosing to do something; conscious intent or volition
• Spanish: voluntad — act of choosing to do something; conscious intent or volition
• Spanish: albedrío — act of choosing to do something; conscious intent or volition
• Swedish: vilja — act of choosing to do something; conscious intent or volition
• Swedish: önskan — act of choosing to do something; conscious intent or volition
• Tajik: ихтиёр (ixtiyor) — act of choosing to do something; conscious intent or volition
• Tajik: ирода (iroda) — act of choosing to do something; conscious intent or volition
• Tajik: орзу (orzu) — act of choosing to do something; conscious intent or volition
• Tatar: ихтыяр (ixtıyar) — act of choosing to do something; conscious intent or volition
• Tocharian A: kri — act of choosing to do something; conscious intent or volition
• Turkish: irade — act of choosing to do something; conscious intent or volition
• Ukrainian: во́ля (vólja) — act of choosing to do something; conscious intent or volition
• Uzbek: iroda — act of choosing to do something; conscious intent or volition
• Uzbek: ixtiyor — act of choosing to do something; conscious intent or volition
• Welsh: ewyllys — act of choosing to do something; conscious intent or volition
• Armenian: ցանկանալ (cʻankanal) — to wish or desire
• Bulgarian: искам (iskam) — to wish or desire
• Bulgarian: желая (želaja) — to wish or desire
• Catalan: desitjar — to wish or desire
• Cornish: mynnes — to wish or desire
• Dutch: willen — to wish or desire
• Esperanto: voli — to wish or desire
• Finnish: aikoa — to wish or desire
• French: vouloir — to wish or desire
• German: wollen — to wish or desire
• Ancient Greek: ἐθέλω (ethélō) — to wish or desire
• Ancient Greek: θέλω (thélō) — to wish or desire
• Ancient Greek: βούλομαι (boúlomai) — to wish or desire
• Hindi: आशा (āśā) — to wish or desire
• Hindi: इच्छा (icchā) — to wish or desire
• Hindi: कामना (kāmnā) — to wish or desire
• Hindi: चाह (cāh) — to wish or desire
• Hungarian: akar — to wish or desire
• Hungarian: kíván — to wish or desire
• Hungarian: óhajt — to wish or desire
• Hungarian: rendel — to wish or desire
• Italian: volere — to wish or desire
• Japanese: 望む (nozomu) — to wish or desire
• Japanese: 希望する (kibō suru) — to wish or desire
• Japanese: 願う (negau) — to wish or desire
• Macedonian: посакува (posakuva) — to wish or desire
• Macedonian: посака (posaka) — to wish or desire
• Macedonian: пожелува (poželuva) — to wish or desire
• Macedonian: пожели (poželi) — to wish or desire
• Norwegian: ville — to wish or desire
• Portuguese: desejar — to wish or desire
• Russian: жела́ть (želátʹ) — to wish or desire
• Russian: пожела́ть (poželátʹ) — to wish or desire
• Spanish: desear — to wish or desire
• Spanish: anhelar — to wish or desire
• Swedish: vilja — to wish or desire
• Turkish: istek — to wish or desire
• Arabic: رح or حـ (raḥ) — indicating future action
• Arabic: رح or حـ (raḥ) — indicating future action
• Tunisian Arabic: باش (bēš) — indicating future action
• Belizean Creole: wahn — indicating future action
• Bulgarian: ще (šte) — indicating future action
• Burmese: နောင် (naung) — indicating future action
• Burmese: မည် (many) — indicating future action
• Burmese: အံ့ (am.) — indicating future action
• Catalan: anar — indicating future action
• Chinese Cantonese: 會 /会 (wui5, wui3) — indicating future action
• Chinese Mandarin: 將 /将 (jiāng) — indicating future action
• Chinese Mandarin: 要 (yào) — indicating future action
• Chinese Mandarin: 將要 /将要 (jiāngyào) — indicating future action
• Chinese Mandarin: 會 /会 (huì) — indicating future action
• Danish: vil — indicating future action
• Danish: skal — indicating future action
• Dutch: zullen — indicating future action
• Esperanto: -os Use the future tense — indicating future action
• Estonian: hakkama — indicating future action
• Estonian: saama — indicating future action
• Finnish: tulla — indicating future action
• Finnish: aikoa — indicating future action
• French: -ras — indicating future action
• French: -ra — indicating future action
• French: -rons — indicating future action
• French: -rez — indicating future action
• French: -ront — indicating future action
• French: aller — indicating future action
• West-Frisian: sille — indicating future action
• West-Frisian: gean — indicating future action
• German: werden — indicating future action
• German: present tense form is often used — indicating future action
• Hebrew: עָתִיד ('atíd) — indicating future action
• Hindi: होंगे (hoṅge) — indicating future action
• Hungarian: fog — indicating future action
• Indonesian: akan — indicating future action
• Isoko: ti — indicating future action
• Italian: -rai — indicating future action
• Italian: -rà — indicating future action
• Italian: -remo — indicating future action
• Italian: -rete — indicating future action
• Italian: -ranno — indicating future action
• Khmer: នឹង (nɨng) — indicating future action
• Koasati: -laho̱ — indicating future action
• Korean: -을 것이다 (-eul geosida) — indicating future action
• Korean: -ᄅ 것이다 (-l geosida) — indicating future action
• Korean: -을게 (-eulge) — indicating future action
• Korean: -ᄅ게 (-lge) — indicating future action
• Korean: -겠- (-get-) — indicating future action
• Northern Kurdish: dê — indicating future action
• Northern Kurdish: ê — indicating future action
• Lao: ຈະ (cha) — indicating future action
• Lao: ຈິ (chi) — indicating future action
• Lao: ຊິ (si) — indicating future action
• Lao: ຈັກ (chak) — indicating future action
• Luxembourgish: wäerten — indicating future action
• Macedonian: ќе (ḱe) — indicating future action
• Malay: akan — indicating future action
• Navajo: dooleeł — indicating future action
• Norwegian Bokmål: vil — indicating future action
• Norwegian Bokmål: kommer til å — indicating future action
• Norwegian Bokmål: skal — indicating future action
• Nǀuu: si — indicating future action
• Old English: willan — indicating future action
• Old English: sċulan — indicating future action
• Iranian Persian: خواسْتَن (xâstan) — indicating future action
• Serbo-Croatian: хтети — indicating future action
• Serbo-Croatian: хтјети — indicating future action
• Serbo-Croatian: hteti — indicating future action
• Serbo-Croatian: htjeti — indicating future action
• Slovene: biti — indicating future action
• Spanish: future tense — indicating future action
• Spanish: ir a — indicating future action
• Swahili: -ta- — indicating future action
• Swedish: komma till att — indicating future action
• Swedish: komma att — indicating future action
• Swedish: skola — indicating future action
• Swedish: vilja — indicating future action
• Swedish: tänka — indicating future action
• Thai: จะ (jà) — indicating future action
• Ukrainian: special endings — indicating future action
• Vietnamese: sẽ — indicating future action
• Yapese: ra — indicating future action
• Yiddish: וועלן (veln) — indicating future action
• Armenian: կտակել (ktakel) — to bequeath
• Bulgarian: завеща́вам (zaveštávam) — to bequeath
• Catalan: llegar — to bequeath
• Czech: odkázat — to bequeath
• Danish: testamentere — to bequeath
• Dutch: vermaken — to bequeath
• Dutch: nalaten — to bequeath
• Dutch: legateren — to bequeath
• Esperanto: testamenti — to bequeath
• Estonian: pärandama — to bequeath
• Estonian: testeerima — to bequeath
• Finnish: testamentata — to bequeath
• French: léguer — to bequeath
• Georgian: სურს (surs) — to bequeath
• German: vermachen — to bequeath
• Hungarian: (örökül) hagy — to bequeath
• Hungarian: ráhagy — to bequeath
• Hungarian: rátestál — to bequeath
• Italian: legare — to bequeath
• Italian: lasciare in eredità — to bequeath
• Luxembourgish: verierwen — to bequeath
• Macedonian: заветува (zavetuva) — to bequeath
• Macedonian: остава во наследство (ostava vo nasledstvo) — to bequeath
• Māori: wira — to bequeath
• Norwegian Bokmål: testamentere — to bequeath
• Portuguese: legar — to bequeath
• Russian: завеща́ть (zaveščátʹ) — to bequeath
• Slovene: zapustiti — to bequeath
• Slovene: voliti — to bequeath
• Spanish: legar — to bequeath
• Swedish: testamentera — to bequeath