begin

English

Wikipedia

Etymology

From Middle English beginnen, from Old English beginnan (“to begin”), from Proto-Germanic *biginnanan, *begennanan (“to begin”) (compare West Frisian begjinne, Dutch/German beginnen), from Proto-Indo-European *ghendhe/o 'to take' (compare Welsh genni 'to delve, submerge onself', Latin prehendere 'to grasp, nab', praeda 'prey', Albanian zë 'to catch', Ancient Greek chandánein 'to hold, contain')

Pronunciation

• IPA: /bɪˈɡɪn/, /bəˈgɪn/

• Audio (US)

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• Audio (UK)

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Verb

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

1. (ambitransitive) 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.

   The program begins at 9 o'clock on the dot.

   I rushed to get to class on time, but the lesson had already begun.

Related terms

• beganst
• beginning noun

Translations

To start, to initiate or take the first step into something.

American Sign Language: 1@InFinger-PalmDown-OpenB@CenterChesthigh 1@InFinger-PalmUp-OpenB@CenterChesthigh Arabic: بدأ (ar) (bádaʾa), imperfect: يبدأ (ar) (yabdaʾu) Armenian: սկսել (hy) (sksel) Azeri: başlamaq (az) Basque: hasi (eu) Belarusian: пачынаць (be) (pačynác') impf., пачаць (be) (pačác') pf. Bulgarian: започвам (bg) (započvam), почвам (bg) (počvam) Burmese: စ (my) (sa.) Chinese: Mandarin: 開始 (cmn), 开始 (cmn) (kāishǐ) Czech: začít (cs) pf., začínat (cs) impf. Danish: begynde (da) Dutch: beginnen (nl), aanvangen (nl) Esperanto: komenci (eo), eki (eo) Estonian: hakkama (et), alustama (et) Finnish: alkaa (fi), aloittaa (fi) French: commencer (fr) Georgian: დაიწყება (ka) (daicqeba) German: anfangen (de), beginnen (de), starten (de) Greek: αρχίζω (el) (archízo) Hebrew: התחיל (he) (hitkhíl) Hindi: शुरू करना (hi) (śurū karnā) (transitive), शुरू होना (hi) (śurū hōnā) (intransitive) Hungarian: kezd (hu), elkezd (hu) Icelandic: byrja (is), hefjast (is) Ido: komencar Indonesian: mulai (id) Interlingua: comenciar, iniciar Italian: cominciare (it), iniziare (it) Japanese: 始める (ja) (はじめる, hajimeru) (transitive), 開始する (ja) (かいしする, kaishi-suru); 始まる (ja) (はじまる, hajimaru) (intransitive) Kazakh: бастау (kk) (bastaw)

Khmer: ចាប់ផ្ដើម (km) (jap pdaəm) Korean: 시작하다 (ko) (sijak-hada) Lao: ເລີ່ມ (lo) (lə̄ːm) Latin: incipere (la), initiare (la), committo (la) Latvian: sākt (lv) Lithuanian: pradėti (lt) Maltese: ibda Norwegian: begynne (no) Old English: onġinnan, beginnan (rare) Old French: cumancer Persian: اغاز کردن (fa) (ağâz kardan), شروع کردن (fa) (šoru' kardan) Polish: zaczynać impf., zacząć pf. (transitive), zaczynać się impf., zacząć się pf. (intransitive) Portuguese: começar (pt) Romanian: începe (ro) Russian: начинать (ru) (načinát') impf., начать (ru) (načát') pf. (transitive), начинаться (ru) (načinát'sja) impf., начаться (ru) (načát'sja) pf. (intransitive) Santali: ᱮᱦᱳᱵ (ehop') Serbo-Croatian: по̀че̄ти (sh), pòčēti (sh) Slovak: začať (sk) pf., začínať (sk) impf. Slovene: začeti (sl) Spanish: comenzar (es), iniciar (es), empezar (es) Swedish: börja (sv), begynna (sv), inleda (sv) Tatar: башларга (tt) (başlarğa) Thai: เริ่ม (th) (rêrm), เริ่มต้น (th) (rêrm dtôn), เริ่มทำ (th) (rêrm tam) Turkish: başlamak (tr) Turkmen: başlamak (tk) Ukrainian: починати (uk) (počynáty) impf., почати (uk) (počáty) impf. Urdu: شروع کرنا (ur) (śurū karnā) Vietnamese: bắt đầu (vi) Volapük: beginön, primön (vo)

Noun

begin (plural begins)

1. (nonstandard) beginning; start

References

• begin in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911
• begin in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913

Statistics

• Most common English words before 1923: circumstances · sitting · Christ · #788: begin · wait · laughed · opportunity

Anagrams

• being
• binge

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Dutch

Pronunciation

• IPA: /bə.ˈɣɪn/

• audio

  (file)

Noun

begin n. (uncountable, diminutive beginnetje)

1. start, beginning

Synonyms

• aanvang
• start

Derived terms

• beginpunt

Verb

begin

1. first-person singular present indicative of beginnen.
2. imperative of beginnen.

Anagrams

• benig

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Volapük

Noun

begin (plural begins)

1. beginning

Declension

declension of begin

	singular	plural
nominative	begin	begins
genitive	begina	beginas
dative	begine	begines
accusative	begini	beginis
predicative	beginu	beginus
vocative	o begin!	o begins!