A suffix added to nouns or verb stems to form adjectives with the senses ‘desirous of the thing in question’ or ‘inclined or eager to perform the action in question’. The suffix is infrequent in ME, appearing in only nine words, almost exclusively in Ancr. and the works of the Katherine group. One of the nine, on-wil(le, is directly from OE; the rest are formed in ME: bate-wil, drunc-wile, frete-wil, hercwile, spetewile, swetewil, wlatwile, and wrechwile. Of these eight, three are formed on nouns: wlatwile, wrechwile, and prob. swetewil; the rest are formed on verb stems. For bate-wil see further St.Kath.(1), pp. 257-8, note to line 618.