Willie

See also: willie

English

Alternative forms

• (male name): Willy

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈwɪli/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪli

Proper noun

Willie

1. A diminutive of the male given name William
   • 1579, Edmund Spenser, The Shepherd's Calendar: August:

     Well agreed, Willie; then sit thee down, swain;
     Such a song never heardest thou but Colin sing.

   • 1921 George Jean Nathan, Henry Mencken: The Smart Set: A Magazine of Cleverness. Item notes:v64:1(Jan.1921):page 4:

     Not one of his old friends but had been taken to task, in Willie's familiar note of boyish plaintiveness: "Why don't you call me by my own name? I never did like 'Willie' - 'William' isn't so bad. But the other sounds like pinafores and bed sheets."

   • 1970, Tony Hillerman, The Blessing Way, page 139:

     But the professor's voice had risen slightly in a question as he read "Jimmy Willie Hall" off the class card. The professor had intended no rudeness and he made this clear by nodding in acknowledgement to Jim's "Heah", but someone in the back of the room had sniggered and this churlishness to a stranger had embarrassed Ellen, embarrassed all the more because she, too, had smiled at the ludicrous sound.

2. A diminutive of the female given name Wilhelmina or a feminine diminutive of William, often in the form Willie Mae.
   • 1989, John Grisham, A Time To Kill, Island Books, published 1996, →ISBN, page 308:

     Most of the names sounded white. There was Willie Mae Jones, Leroy Washington, Roosevelt Tucker, Bessie Lou Bean, and a few other black names. But the list looked awfully pale.

Derived terms

• whining Willie

 

Tagalog

Etymology

Borrowed from English Willie.

Pronunciation

• (Standard Tagalog) IPA^(key): /ˈwili/ [ˈwiː.lɪ]
• Rhymes: -ili
• Syllabification: Wi‧llie
• Homophones: wili, Willy

Proper noun

Willie (Baybayin spelling ᜏᜒᜎᜒ)

1. a male given name from English