Willed

Willed is a verb form in English with multiple related senses. As the simple past tense and past participle of the verb will, it expresses that someone intended, decided, or chose to do something. For example, "She willed herself to finish the task" implies deliberate exertion of volition. In legal and testamentary language, willed is also used to describe property that has been bequeathed by a will, as in "the estate was willed to his daughter." This sense focuses on transfer of property by a testamentary document rather than on personal intention.

Originating from the Old English willian or willian, both senses derive from the broader concept of volition or desire. The noun will and the verb to will share the same root meaning, and the past participle willed inherits both the voluntariness sense and the legal sense through common usage in probate and estate language.

Usage notes indicate that, in contemporary everyday English, willed is less common as an adjective. More often, willful or willful is used to denote stubbornness or deliberate stubbornness, whereas willed appears mainly in legal contexts or in literary/philosophical writing to emphasize the outcome of intention. In philosophy, psychology, and ethics, to will remains a common verb to denote intentional action, with willed often highlighting that a particular act was the product of deliberate volition. The term should not be confused with willful in modern usage, though older or formal texts may blur the distinction.

See also: will, willful, testament, bequeath.