begin

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See also: Begin

English[edit]

English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia

Etymology[edit]

From Middle English beginnen, from Old English beginnan (“to begin”), from Proto-Germanic *biginnaną (“to begin”) (q.v.), from be- + base verb *ginnaną also found in Old English onginnan.

Pronunciation[edit]

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

Verb[edit]

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 6963663, 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, Alexander Pope, Messiah:
      Ye nymphs of Solyma! begin the song.
    • 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 222716698, 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. Lincoln, chapter 5, in Mr. Pratt's Patients:
      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[edit]

Derived terms[edit]

Translations[edit]

Noun[edit]

begin (plural begins)

  1. (nonstandard) Beginning; start.

References[edit]

Anagrams[edit]

Dutch[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

Etymology 1[edit]

From Middle Dutch begin, from Old Dutch *bigin, *bigen, from Proto-Germanic *biginnaz (“beginning”), from Proto-Germanic *biginniną (“to begin”). Compare Old Dutch anagen, anagenni (“beginning”).

Noun[edit]

begin n (uncountable, diminutive beginnetje n)

  1. start, beginning
Synonyms[edit]

Etymology 2[edit]

See the etymology of the main entry.

Verb[edit]

begin

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

Anagrams[edit]

Middle Dutch[edit]

Etymology[edit]

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Noun[edit]

begin n

  1. beginning, start
  2. origin, source

Inflection[edit]

This noun needs an inflection-table template.

Descendants[edit]

  • Dutch: begin
  • Limburgish: begin

Further reading[edit]

Volapük[edit]

Noun[edit]

begin (nominative plural begins)

  1. beginning

Declension[edit]

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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