incipient

English

WOTD - 1 November 2007    

Etymology

From Latin incipiēns, present participle of incipiō (“begin”).

Pronunciation

• (RP, US) IPA: /ɪnˈsɪp.i.ənt/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

  Rhymes: -ɪpiənt

Adjective

incipient (not comparable)

1. beginning, starting, coming into existence.

   After 500 years, incipient towns appeared.

Synonyms

• (beginning): beginning, commencing, emerging, starting

Translations

beginning, starting

Dutch: beginnend (nl) Finnish: alkava (fi), orastava (fi) French: incipient (fr) m., incipiente (fr) f.; commençant (fr) German: einsetzend (de)

Latin: incipiēns nominative, incipientis genitive Polish: początkowy m. Portuguese: incipiente (pt) Spanish: incipiente (es)

Noun

incipient (countable and uncountable; plural incipients)

1. (countable, obsolete) beginner
2. (uncountable, grammar) A verb tense of the Hebrew language.

Synonyms

• (beginner): beginner, inceptor

Related terms

• inception
• incipience
• incipiency
• incipiently
• incipit

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Latin

Verb

incipient

1. third-person plural future active indicative of incipiō  "they will begin"