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• willy
  willy

  noun

  willow.
• Willy
  Willy

  noun

  a male given name, form of William.

willy

¹ American  

[wil-ee] / ˈwɪl i /

Or willey

noun

willies plural

1. willow.

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verb (used with object)

willied, willying

1. to willow (textile fibers).

willy ² American  

[wil-ee] / ˈwɪl i /

noun

Chiefly British Slang.

willies plural

1. penis.

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Willy ³ American  

[wil-ee] / ˈwɪl i /

noun

1. a male given name, form of William.

2. a female given name.

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willy British  

/ ˈwɪlɪ /

noun

1. informal a childish or jocular term for penis

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• willies
  plural

Etymology

Origin of willy¹

First recorded in 1825–35; special use of dialect willy, Old English wilige “basket” (originally one made of willow twigs); akin to willow

Origin of willy²

First recorded in 1900–05; possibly from Willy ( def. )

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

willy Willy willies

Consider buddleboy, bogeyman, bumboat man, flirter, higgler, pugger, muffleman, quarrel picker, spittle-maker, whiff-maker and willy man.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 14, 2025

Maybe the next time we see them all, W. will be giving Obama a wet willy at Trump’s second inauguration.

From Slate ● Jan. 9, 2025

For a while, companies like Apple wouldn’t let app developers run all willy nilly with the power to request our attention at any moment of the day.

From The Verge ● Aug. 5, 2022

Just within a couple of yards of the water’s edge, the species are abundant, the nomenclature mellifluous: buttercup, foxglove, leopard’s bane, nipplewort, forget-me-not, large-leaf aven, fringe cup, sticky willy.

From Seattle Times ● Jun. 11, 2022

We found her unraveling the splendid shroud, and then she had to finish, willy nilly— finish, and show the big loom woven tight from beam to beam with cloth.

From "The Odyssey" by Homer

Former Arsenal midfielder and Wales captain Aaron Ramsey applies a tourniquet, while ex-Chelsea and Argentina goalkeeper Willy Caballero comforts the casualty.

From BBC ● Jul. 13, 2026

“The memory business historically has been a tough business, not hugely profitable, but these guys have persisted,” said Willy Shih, a professor of management practice in business administration at Harvard Business School.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 3, 2026

Netflix is so psyched about generative software that it’s spent the year acquiring an A.I. production studio, launching a different studio for A.I.-animated shorts, and re-creating Gene Wilder’s voice for a Willy Wonka–themed game show.

From Slate ● Jul. 2, 2026

The Willy Chavarria show was air-conditioned, pumped with Xinú perfume and felt expensive.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 1, 2026

And every day, little Charlie Bucket, trudging through the snow on his way to school, would have to pass Mr. Willy Wonka’s giant chocolate factory.

From "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" by Roald Dahl

But upon closer interrogation, the whole thing gave me the willies.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 14, 2026

Granted, discovering that her superfan collected one of her toenails does give the otherwise unflappable spirit a serious case of the willies.

From Salon ● Dec. 29, 2021

You can easily call it quits if it rains or if someone gets a sudden, intractable case of the willies.

From New York Times ● May 15, 2020

Did they get the willies confronting their younger versions?

From The Guardian ● Nov. 1, 2019

Can’t joke it away Can’t even talk to each other except maybe in whispers, all hush-hush, and that just revs up the willies.

From "The Things They Carried" by Tim O'Brien