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beginning. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
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English
Alternative forms
Pronunciation
Etymology 1
From Middle English biginning, beginninge, beginnunge, equivalent to begin + -ing.
Noun
beginning (countable and uncountable, plural beginnings)
- (uncountable) The act of doing that which begins anything; commencement of an action, state, or space of time; entrance into being or upon a course; the first act, effort, or state of a succession of acts or states.
- That which is begun; a rudiment or element.
- That which begins or originates something; the source or first cause.
What was the beginning of the dispute?
- The initial portion of some extended thing.
- The author describes the main character's youth at the beginning of the story.
- That house is at the beginning of the street.
1975, Frances Keinzley, The Cottage at Chapelyard, page 179:"Is anything the matter?" Lady Lindstrom asked anxiously.
"No," Megan told her. "I'm merely trying to decide where the beginning is."
"Perhaps at the beginning," the Chief Constable prompted, rather stupidly, Megan thought.
"Which beginning?" she asked.
Usage notes
"In the beginning" is an idiomatic expression that means "at first, initially"; it does not mean the same as "at the beginning".
The meaning of "at the beginning" is clear from its parts. This expression is used to refer to the time when or place where something starts; it is used to refer to points in time and space and also to fairly long periods of time and fairly large extents of space. ("At the beginning of the story" can be used to refer to both the first few sentences and to the first chapter or chapters. "At the beginning of the trail" can be used to refer to both the first few meters and the first part of a trail, which can be quite substantial, even a fifth or fourth or more.)
The originally rare and traditionally deprecated usage of "in the beginning of" (instead of "at the beginning of") has become more common but is still ignored by most dictionaries and other authorities or labeled as unidiomatic or incorrect. Interestingly, there is only rarely confusion between the parallel expressions "in the end" and "at the end (of)".
Synonyms
Antonyms
- (antonym(s) of "act of doing that which begins anything"): conclusion, end
Derived terms
Translations
act of doing that which begins anything
- Arabic: بِدَايَة f (bidāya)
- Armenian: սկիզբ (hy) (skizb)
- Asturian: comienzu m, entamu (ast) m, empiezu m, aniciu m
- Avar: авал (awal)
- Azerbaijani: əvvəl
- Belarusian: пача́так m (pačátak)
- Bulgarian: нача́ло (bg) n (načálo)
- Burmese: ကနဦး (my) (ka.na.u:), အစ (my) (a.ca.), အာဒိ (my) (adi.)
- Catalan: començament (ca) m, inici (ca) m, principi (ca) m
- Chinese:
- Mandarin: 開始/开始 (zh) (kāishǐ)
- Czech: začátek (cs) m, počátek (cs) m
- Dutch: begin (nl) n
- Estonian: alustamine
- Finnish: alkaminen (fi), alku (fi), aloitus (fi)
- French: début (fr) m, commencement (fr) m
- Middle French: commencement m
- Old French: comencement m
- Galician: comezo m, empezo m, principio (gl) m, inicio m
- Georgian: დაწყება (dac̣q̇eba)
- German: Anfang (de) m, Beginn (de) m
- Gothic: 𐍆𐍂𐌿𐌼𐌹𐍃𐍄𐌹 f (frumisti), 𐍆𐍂𐌿𐌼 n (frum), 𐌰𐌽𐌰𐍃𐍄𐍉𐌳𐌴𐌹𐌽𐍃 f (anastōdeins)
- Greek:
- Ancient: ἀρχή f (arkhḗ)
- Guaraní: ñepyrumby
- Haitian Creole: kòmansman
- Hindi: शुरू (hi) m (śurū)
- Hungarian: kezdet (hu), kezdés (hu)
- Hunsrik: Aanfang m
- Ido: komenco (io)
- Interlingua: comenciamento
- Japanese: 開始 (ja) (kaishi), 到来 (ja) (tōrai), 始まり (ja) (hajimari)
- Khmer: ការចាប់ផ្ដើម (kaa cap phdaəm)
- Korean: 시작(始作) (ko) (sijak), 처음 (ko) (cheo'eum)
- Kurdish:
- Central Kurdish: دەستپێکردن (destpêkirdin)
- Northern Kurdish: destpêkirin (ku)
- Ladino: empesijo m, impisiju m, principio m (Monastir)
- Latin: initium (la), principium (la) n, prīmordium n, exordium n
- Latvian: sākums m
- Lithuanian: pradžia (lt) f, pradėjimas m, debiutas m
- Macedonian: почеток m (početok)
- Malayalam: തുടക്കം (ml) (tuṭakkaṁ), ആരംഭം (ml) (ārambhaṁ)
- Mauritian Creole: komansman
- Norman: (Guernsey) c'menchement m
- Norwegian:
- Bokmål: begynnelse (no) m
- Occitan: començament (oc) m, principi (oc) m
- Odia: ଆରମ୍ଭ (arômbhô)
- Papiamentu: kuminsamentu
- Plautdietsch: Aunfank m
- Polish: początek (pl) m
- Portuguese: começo (pt) m, início (pt) m, princípio (pt) m
- Punjabi: ਸ਼ੁਰੂ (pa) (śurū)
- Romanian: începere (ro) f, început (ro) n, inițiere (ro) f, debut (ro) n
- Romansch: (Grischun, Sursilvan) entschatta, (Sutsilvan) antscheata, (Surmiran) antschatta, (Vallader) prinzipi
- Russian: нача́ло (ru) n (načálo)
- Sanskrit: आद (sa) m (āda), आरम्भ (sa) m (ārambha), आदि (sa) m (ādi)
- Scottish Gaelic: toiseach m
- Serbo-Croatian: почетак m, početak (sh) m, почињање n, počinjanje n
- Slovak: začiatok (sk) m, počiatok m
- Slovene: začetek (sl) m
- Spanish: comienzo (es) m, principio (es) m, inicio (es) m
- Swedish: början (sv), begynnelse (sv), start (sv) c
- Tagalog: simula, umpisa (tl)
- Tamil: ஆரம்பம் (ta) (ārampam), ஆதி (ta) (āti)
- Telugu: ప్రారంభం (te) (prārambhaṁ), మొదలు (te) (modalu)
- Thai: การเริ่ม (th) (gaan-rə̂əm)
- Turkish: başlangıç (tr), iptida (tr) (archaic)
- Ukrainian: поча́ток (uk) m (počátok)
- Vietnamese: phần đầu, bắt đầu (vi)
- Walloon: kimince (wa) m, kiminçmint (wa) m
- Yiddish: אָנהייב m (onheyb)
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that which begins or originates something
- Arabic: بِدَايَة f (bidāya)
- Armenian: սկիզբ (hy) (skizb), սկզբնապատճառ (hy) (skzbnapatčaṙ)
- Bulgarian: изто́чник (bg) m (iztóčnik)
- Chinese:
- Mandarin: 起源 (zh) (qǐyuán)
- Czech: začátek (cs) m, počátek (cs) m
- Dutch: begin (nl) n, aanvang (nl) m
- Estonian: algus (et)
- Finnish: alku (fi), alkuperä (fi), alkupiste
- French: début (fr) m, commencement (fr) m
- Georgian: დასაწყისი (dasac̣q̇isi)
- German: Beginn (de) m
- Haitian Creole: kòmansman
- Hebrew: התחלה (he) f (hatkhala)
- Hungarian: kezdet (hu), kezdőpont (hu), kiindulópont (hu)
- Icelandic: byrjun (is) f
- Irish: tosach m
- Italian: inizio (it) m
- Japanese: 起源 (ja) (kigen), 発端 (ja) (hottan)
- Kurdish:
- Central Kurdish: سەرەتایی (seretayî)
- Malayalam: തുടക്കം (ml) (tuṭakkaṁ), ആരംഭം (ml) (ārambhaṁ)
- Norwegian:
- Bokmål: begynnelse (no) m
- Old English: frymþu f
- Polish: początek (pl) m
- Portuguese: originador m, gerador (pt) m
- Quechua: qallariy (qu)
- Russian: нача́ло (ru) n (načálo), исто́чник (ru) m (istóčnik)
- Sanskrit: आद (sa) m (āda)
- Scottish Gaelic: toiseach m
- Serbo-Croatian: početak (sh)
- Slovene: začetek (sl) m, izvor (sl) m
- Spanish: origen (es) m
- Swedish: början (sv), upphov (sv), orsak (sv), upprinnelse (sv) c, ursprung (sv) n, upptakt (sv) c
- Tagalog: simula
- Tamil: தொடக்கம் (ta) (toṭakkam)
- Telugu: ప్రారంభం (te) (prārambhaṁ), మొదలు (te) (modalu)
- Turkish: başlangıç (tr)
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initial portion of some extended thing
- Arabic: بِدَايَة f (bidāya)
- Armenian: սկիզբ (hy) (skizb)
- Basque: hasiera
- Bulgarian: нача́ло (bg) n (načálo)
- Burmese: please add this translation if you can
- Czech: začátek (cs) m
- Dutch: begin (nl) m
- Esperanto: komenco (eo)
- Estonian: algus (et)
- Finnish: alku (fi), alkuosa, koitto (fi), alku-
- French: début (fr) m
- Georgian: please add this translation if you can
- German: Anfang (de) m
- Greek: αρχή (el) f (archí)
- Hungarian: (valami) eleje (hu), kezdet (hu)
- Khmer: please add this translation if you can
- Kurdish:
- Central Kurdish: سەرەتایی (seretayî)
- Ladino: precipio m
- Malayalam: തുടക്കം (ml) (tuṭakkaṁ), ആരംഭം (ml) (ārambhaṁ)
- Mongolian: please add this translation if you can
- Norwegian:
- Bokmål: begynnelse (no) m
- Polish: początek (pl) m
- Portuguese: começo (pt) m, início (pt) m, princípio (pt) m
- Romanian: început (ro) n, debut (ro) n
- Russian: нача́ло (ru) n (načálo)
- Scottish Gaelic: toiseach m
- Serbo-Croatian: početak (sh)
- Slovene: začetek (sl) m, pričetek m
- Spanish: principio (es) m
- Swedish: början (sv), inledning (sv) c, start (sv) c
- Tagalog: umpisa (tl)
- Telugu: ప్రారంభం (te) (prārambhaṁ), మొదలు (te) (modalu)
- Thai: please add this translation if you can
- Turkish: başlangıç (tr)
- Vietnamese: đầu (vi)
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Translations to be checked
See also
Etymology 2
From Middle English begynnyng, bygynnynge, From Old English *beginnende (attested only as Old English onginnende), from Proto-Germanic *biginnandz, present participle of Proto-Germanic *biginnaną (“to begin”), equivalent to begin + -ing.
Verb
beginning
- present participle and gerund of begin
He is beginning to read a new book.
1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter VII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:The turmoil went on—no rest, no peace. […] It was nearly eleven o'clock now, and he strolled out again. In the little fair created by the costers' barrows the evening only seemed beginning; and the naphtha flares made one's eyes ache, the men's voices grated harshly, and the girls' faces saddened one.
Adjective
beginning (not comparable)
- (informal) Of or relating to the first portion of some extended thing.
- in the beginning paragraph of the chapter
- in the beginning section of the course
Synonyms
Translations
of or relating to the first portion of something