begin
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See also: Begin
English
Etymology
From Middle English beginnen, from Old English beginnan (“to begin”), from Proto-West Germanic *biginnan, from Proto-Germanic *biginnaną (“to begin”), from be- + base verb *ginnaną also found in Old English onginnan.
Pronunciation
Verb
begin (third-person singular simple present begins, present participle beginning, simple past began, past participle begun)
- (transitive, intransitive) To start, to initiate or take the first step into something.
- I began playing the piano at the age of five. Now that everyone is here, we should begin the presentation.
- a. 1705, John Locke, “An Examination of P[ère] Malebranche’s Opinion of Seeing All Things in God”, in Posthumous Works of Mr. John Locke: , London: A and J Churchill, , published 1706, →OCLC, paragraph 41, page 175:
- The Apoſtle begins our Knowledge in the Creatures, which lead us to the Knowledge of God, if we will make uſe of our Reaſon: [...]
- 1712 (date written), Alexander Pope, “Messiah. A Sacred Eclogue, in Imitation of Virgil’s Pollio.”, in The Works of Alexander Pope Esq. , volume I, London: J and P Knapton, H. Lintot, J and R Tonson, and S. Draper, published 1751, →OCLC, page 37, lines 1–2:
- Ye Nymphs of Solyma! begin the ſong: / To heav'nly themes ſublimer ſtrains belong.
- 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter IV, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC, page 48:
- Mr. Cooke at once began a tirade against the residents of Asquith for permitting a sandy and generally disgraceful condition of the roads. So roundly did he vituperate the inn management in particular, and with such a loud flow of words, that I trembled lest he should be heard on the veranda.
- 1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter V, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y., London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC:
- Of all the queer collections of humans outside of a crazy asylum, it seemed to me this sanitarium was the cup winner. […] When you're well enough off so's you don't have to fret about anything but your heft or your diseases you begin to get queer, I suppose.
- 2013 June 29, “Unspontaneous combustion”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8842, page 29:
- Since the mid-1980s, when Indonesia first began to clear its bountiful forests on an industrial scale in favour of lucrative palm-oil plantations, “haze” has become an almost annual occurrence in South-East Asia.
- (intransitive) To be in the first stage of some situation
- The program begins at 9 o'clock on the dot. I rushed to get to class on time, but the lesson had already begun.
- (intransitive) To come into existence.
- 1733, [Alexander Pope], An Essay on Man. , (please specify |epistle=I to IV), London: Printed for J Wilford, , →OCLC:
- Vast chain of being! which from God began.
Synonyms
Derived terms
Translations
to start, to initiate or take the first step into something
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of a thing, to be in the first stage of something
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Noun
begin (plural begins)
References
- “begin”, in The Century Dictionary , New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
- “begin”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
Anagrams
Dutch
Pronunciation
Etymology 1
From Middle Dutch begin, from Old Dutch *bigin, *bigen, from Proto-Germanic *biginnaz (“beginning”), from Proto-Germanic *biginniną (“to begin”); see the verb beginnen. Compare Old Dutch anagen, anagenni (“beginning”).
Noun
begin n (uncountable, diminutive beginnetje n)
Synonyms
Descendants
- Negerhollands: begin
Etymology 2
See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.
Verb
begin
- inflection of beginnen:
Anagrams
Middle Dutch
Etymology
See the verb beginnen (“to begin”)
Noun
begin n
Inflection
This noun needs an inflection-table template.
Descendants
Further reading
- “beghin (I)”, in Vroegmiddelnederlands Woordenboek, 2000
- Verwijs, E., Verdam, J. (1885–1929) “begin”, in Middelnederlandsch Woordenboek, The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, →ISBN
Volapük
Noun
begin (nominative plural begins)