Wiktionary

begin

See also: Begin

English

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Etymology

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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

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  • IPA(key): /bɪˈɡɪn/, /bəˈɡɪn/, /biˈɡɪn/
  • Audio (UK):(file)
  • Audio (US):(file)
  • Rhymes: -ɪn

Verb

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begin (third-person singular simple present begins, present participle beginning, simple past began, past participle begun)

  1. (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[wnsham] and J[ohn] 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[ohn] and P[aul] Knapton, H. Lintot, J[acob] and R[ichard] 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.
  2. (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.
  3. (intransitive) To come into existence.

Synonyms

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Derived terms

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Descendants

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  • Sranan Tongo: bigin

Translations

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Noun

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begin (plural begins)

  1. (nonstandard) Beginning; start.
    • 2006, Quynh Anh (lyrics and music), “Hello Vietnam”, in Bonjour Vietnam, published 2008:
      In prayer, in the light, I see my kin / I touch my tree, my roots, my begin

References

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Anagrams

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Dutch

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Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /bəˈɣɪn/
  • Audio:(file)
  • Hyphenation: be‧gin
  • Rhymes: -ɪn

Etymology 1

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From Middle Dutch begin, from Old Dutch *bigin, from Proto-West Germanic [Term?], from the verb *biginnan (“to begin”) (whence beginnen). Cognate with Old High German bigin and Old Frisian biginn. Compare with different prefix Old Dutch anagen, anagenni (“beginning”).

Noun

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begin n (uncountable, diminutive beginnetje n)

  1. start, beginning
    Synonyms: aanvang, start
Descendants
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Etymology 2

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See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

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begin

  1. inflection of beginnen:
    1. first-person singular present indicative
    2. (in case of inversion) second-person singular present indicative
    3. imperative

Anagrams

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Middle Dutch

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Etymology

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From Old Dutch *bigin, from Proto-West Germanic [Term?], from the verb *biginnan (“to begin”). Cognate with Old High German bigin, Old Frisian biginn.

Noun

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begin n

  1. beginning, start
  2. origin, source

Declension

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This noun needs an inflection-table template.

Descendants

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Further reading

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Volapük

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Noun

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begin (nominative plural begins)

  1. beginning

Declension

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declension of begin
singular plural
nominative begin begins
genitive begina beginas
dative begine begines
accusative begini beginis
vocative 1 o begin! o begins!
predicative 2 beginu beginus
  • 1 status as a case is disputed
  • 2 in later, non-classical Volapük only
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