willen
German, postposition
willen is spelled W-I-L-L-E-N (6 letters) and appears 43 times per million words in written German, the 1,972nd most frequent German word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Willen is a German postposition meaning “only used in um … willen” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). With a capital, Willen is a different word: “alternative form of Wille (“will”)”. The German Wiktionary defines it as “wegen etwas”.
What does willen mean in English?
postposition
- 1
only used in um … willen
noun
- 1
masculinealternative form of Wille (“will”)
noun
- 1
dative/accusative singular
- 2
all-case plural
Source: English Wiktionary, German section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How German dictionaries define it
noun: 1. Wille
postposition: 1. wegen etwas
The definition in the German Wiktionary, in German.
Source: German Wiktionary, dump of September 1, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org.
Forms of willen
- Willens genitive
- Wille variant
Source: English Wiktionary and German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
How common is willen in German?
willen appears 43 times per million words in written German.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).