William
/ˈwɪl.i.əm/
William noun: radiotelephony clear-code word for the letter W.
Noun
William
- radiotelephony clear-code word for the letter W.
- Synonyms:
- Whiskey
Proper noun
William (plural Williams)
- A male given name from the Germanic languages popular since the Norman Conquest.
- This name hath been most common in England since King William the Conquerour, insomuch that upon a festival day in the Court of King Henry the Second, when Sir William Saint-John, and Sir William Fitz-Hamon, especial Officers, had commanded that none but of the name of William should dine in the...1605, William Camden, Remains Concerning Britain, John Russell Smith, published 1870, page 98
- But we have known Williams and Richards, names not found in sacred story, but familiar to our country, prove as gracious saints as any Safe deliverance, Fight the good fight of faith, or such like,1629, Thomas Adams, Meditations upon Creed: The Works of Thomas Adams, James Nichol (1862), volume 3, page 212
- A surname.
William meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Bengali and Tagalog
William in Hindi
- male given name
- विलियम viliyam
William in Tamil
- male given name
- வில்லியம் villiyam
William in Bengali
- male given name
- উইলিয়াম uiliẏam
William in Tagalog
- male given name
- William
More languagesFewer languages
- William in Arabic
- وِيلْيَام wilyām, وِلْيَم wilyam
- William in Persian
- ویلیام viliyâm
- William in Thai
- วิลเลียม
Examples of William in a sentence
- With a name like William you have choices.2004, Christopher Wood, California, Here I Am, TwentyFirst Century Publishers Ltd, →ISBN, pages 29–30:
- One was a piece, Two Cheers for the Whig Interpretation of History, by William Cronon, president of the American Historical Association.2012 October 3, Rebekah Higgitt, “Why whiggish won't do”, in The Guardian, →ISSN, archived from the original on 08 Dec 2022:
- The settlement came after a ruling in June by Judge William Alsup of the U.S.2025 September 5, Cade Metz, “Anthropic Agrees to Pay $1.5 Billion to Settle Lawsuit With Book Authors”, in The New York Times, →ISSN...
Synonyms of William
Forms of William
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| alternative abbreviation historical | Wm. |
| Proper noun | |
| plural | Williams |
Origin of William
From Middle English William, from Anglo-Norman Willame, from Old High German Willahelm, from Proto-Germanic *Wiljahelmaz (> Latin Gulielmus), from Proto-Germanic *wiljô (“will”) + *helmaz (“helmet”), ultimately from the Proto-Indo-European roots *welh₁- (“to choose, wish, want”) and *ḱel- (“to cover, conceal, save”) respectively. Cognate with Dutch Willem, German Wilhelm, etc.; cognate borrowings outside of Germanic include Guillaume and Guillermo.
Words formed from William
Phrases with William
Words that rhyme with William
Questions about William
- What does William mean?
- William means radiotelephony clear-code word for the letter W.
- What is William in Hindi?
- William in Hindi is विलियम (viliyam). See William meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use William in a sentence?
- With a name like William you have choices.
- What part of speech is William?
- William can be a noun or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce William?
- William is pronounced /ˈwɪl.i.əm/.
Words near William in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: William (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-William.wav.
Cite this entry: “William.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/william. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.