Dictionary

Willie en · PROPN

Pronunciation

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• /ˈwɪli/

Etymology

Etymology tree English Will Proto-Germanic *-j-, *-ij- Proto-West Germanic *-i, *-ī Old English -iġ Middle English -y English -y English -ie English Willie From Will + -ie.

Meanings

1. A diminutive of the male given name William.
   • 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. 1970, Tony Hillerman, The Blessing Way, page 139:
   • Well agreed, Willie; then sit thee down, swain; Such a song never heardest thou but Colin sing. 1579, Edmund Spenser, The Shepherd's Calendar: August:
   • 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." 1921 George Jean Nathan, Henry Mencken: The Smart Set: A Magazine of Cleverness. Item notes:v64:1(Jan.1921):page 4
2. A diminutive of the female given name Wilhelmina or a feminine diminutive of William, often in the form Willie Mae.
   • 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. 1989, John Grisham, A Time To Kill, Island Books, published 1996, →ISBN, page 308:

Forms

Deriveds

Slick Willie · whining Willie · Willie Peter · Willie Wigglestick