Where does well-willing come from?

It is traced to Middle English.

well-willing

Word Rarity Uncommon

Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.70 in modern English

Scrabble Score

Letters

Syllables

Unique Chars

adj

"This is rational life's first, simplest, most natural longing when at rest: to be always and all-ways good as wholly well-willing for ever—which is essentially good-will's as it is love's self-generated and self-resting thought—for ever and ever !"

From Middle English welewillynge, welwillende, from Old English welwillende (“well-wishing, benevolent, kindly, good”), equivalent to well + willing.

more well-willing (comparative) most well-willing (superlative)

How to pronounce well-willing

Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “well-willing”.

Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling () so you know which sounds to aim for.

Play the audio — Click Play to hear reference audio for “well-willing”.

Repeat and practice — Say “well-willing” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.