willy-nilly

English

WOTD – 12 July 2021

Alternative forms

• willy nilly

Etymology

From will I, nill I (also with ye or he instead of I), meaning “[if] I am/ye are/he is willing, [or if] I am/ye are/he is not willing.” See will (“to desire, to wish, to be willing”), nill (“to not desire, to not wish, to be unwilling”).

Pronunciation

• enPR: wĭl′ē-nĭl′ē
• (Received Pronunciation, General Australian) IPA^(key): /ˌwɪl.iːˈnɪl.iː/
• (General American, Canada, Scotland) IPA^(key): /ˌwɪl.iˈnɪl.i/

  Audio (General American):

  (file)

• (New Zealand) IPA^(key): /ˌwəl.iːˈnəl.iː/
• (India) IPA^(key): /ˌwil.iːˈnil.iː/
• Rhymes: -ɪli
• Hyphenation: wil‧ly-nil‧ly

Adverb

willy-nilly (comparative more willy-nilly, superlative most willy-nilly)

1. Whether desired or not; without regard for consequences or wishes of those affected; whether willingly or unwillingly.

   Synonyms: (archaic) nilly-willy, nolens volens

   Some writers chasing money churn out novels willy-nilly.

   • 1868, [Johann Wolfgang von] Goethe, translated by Arthur Duke Coleridge, Egmont. A Tragedy. […], London: Chapman & Hall, […], →OCLC, act II, page 40:

     Whenever I see a long handsome neck, willy nilly, the thought will come uppermost—What a capital neck for carving! Those cursed executions! One can't rid one's mind of them.

   • 1889, Walter Besant, “A Slight Thing at the Best”, in For Faith and Freedom […], volume II, London: Chatto & Windus, […], →OCLC, page 243:

     [I]f you love him not, then you can love me, and, therefore, can come to please yourself, willy-nilly. What! am I to be thwarted in such a trifle? Willy-nilly, I say, I will marry thee. Come—we waste the time.

   • 1954, Aldous Huxley, The Doors of Perception, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC, page 36:

     The outer world is what we wake up to every morning of our lives, is the place where, willy-nilly, we must try to make our living.

   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:willy-nilly.
2. (idiomatic) Seemingly at random; haphazardly.

   The novel Alice in Wonderland describes a place where things happen willy-nilly.

Translations

whether desired or not; without regard for consequences or wishes of those affected

• Albanian: please add this translation if you can
• Arabic: طَوْعًا أَوْ كَرْهًا (ṭawʕan ʔaw karhan), شاءَ مَن شاءَ وَأَبَى مَن أَبَى (šāʔa man šāʔa waʔabā man ʔabā)
• Armenian: ուզած-չուզած (uzac-čʻuzac), կամա թե ակամա (kama tʻe akama)
• Catalan: vulgui o no vulgui
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: ^{(please verify)} 无论愿否

• Czech: chtě nechtě (cs), volky nevolky (cs)
• Dutch: willens nillens (nl)
• Estonian: tahes-tahtmata
• Finnish: halusimme tai emme, miten sattuu (fi)
• French: bon gré mal gré (fr)
• German: wohl oder übel, ob man will oder nicht, nolens volens
• Greek: εκών άκων (el) (ekón ákon), με το ζόρι (me to zóri) (with force), θέλοντας και μη (thélontas kai mi, literally “wanted or not”)
• Hungarian: akár tetszik, akár nem; ha tetszik, ha nem; így is, úgy is; kénytelen-kelletlen (hu)
• Ido: vole o nevole
• Italian: volente o nolente m or f
• Japanese: please add this translation if you can
• Korean: 싫든 좋든 (silteun joteun)
• Latin: volens nolens (nolens volens)
• Lithuanian: nori nenori
• Polish: chcąc nie chcąc (pl)
• Portuguese: querendo ou não, queira ou não queira, obrigatoriamente
• Russian: во́лей-нево́лей (ru) (vólej-nevólej), хо́чешь не хо́чешь (ru) (xóčešʹ ne xóčešʹ)
• Scottish Gaelic: a dheòin no a dh'aindeoin, iochd air n-achd
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: хтео не хтео, хтио не хтио

  Roman: hteo ne hteo, htio ne htio

• Spanish: guste o no guste, quiera o no quiera, quiérase o no, sea como sea, velis nolis
• Swedish: nolens volens (sv)
• Tatar: irekle-ireksez
• Turkish: ister istemez (tr)

seemingly at random — see also haphazardly

• Albanian: please add this translation if you can
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Czech: nahodile
• Finnish: miten sattuu (fi)
• German: einfach so, scheinbar zufällig, wahllos (de), willkürlich (de)
• Italian: a casaccio
• Japanese: please add this translation if you can
• Latin: per saturam
• Polish: na chybił trafił (pl)
• Portuguese: de qualquer jeito, de qualquer maneira
• Russian: тя́п-ля́п (ru) (tjáp-ljáp)
• Spanish: a tontas y a locas, de cualquier manera
• Swedish: på måfå (sv)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Albanian: ^{(please verify)} do s'do

Adjective

willy-nilly (comparative more willy-nilly, superlative most willy-nilly)

1. That happens whether willingly or unwillingly.

   Synonym: (archaic) nilly-willy

   • 1877, Alfred Tennyson, Harold: A Drama, London: Henry S. King & Co., →OCLC, Act V, scene v, page 129:

     [S]omeone saw thy willy-nilly nun / Vying a tress against our golden fern.

   • 1882, Alfred, Lord Tennyson, “The Promise of May”, in Locksley Hall Sixty Years After etc., London, New York, N.Y.: Macmillan and Co., published 1886, →OCLC, Act II, page 119:

     O my God, if man be only / A willy-nilly current of sensations— / Reaction needs must follow revel—yet— / Why feel remorse, he, knowing that he must have / Moved in the iron grooves of Destiny?

Translations

that happens whether willingly or unwillingly

• Albanian: please add this translation if you can
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Finnish: joka tapauksessa tapahtuva
• Japanese: please add this translation if you can
• Polish: jak popadnie
• Spanish: please add this translation if you can

Further reading

• willy nilly (disambiguation) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Michael Quinion (created March 1, 2003, last updated November 19, 2011) “Willy-nilly”, in World Wide Words.

Anagrams

• nilly-willy