beginner

English

Etymology

From Middle English begynner, equivalent to begin +‎ -er. Cognate with West Frisian begjinner (“beginner”), Dutch beginner (“beginner”), Danish nybegynder (“beginner, novice”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /bɪˈɡɪnə/
• (US) IPA^(key): /bəˈɡɪnɚ/

Noun

beginner (plural beginners)

1. Someone who is just starting at something, or has only recently started.

   I'm new to learning Japanese: I'm just a beginner.

2. Someone who sets something in motion.

   The beginner of the games lit the ceremonial torch.

Synonyms

• (recent starter): amateur, newbie
• See also Thesaurus:beginner

Derived terms

• beginnerish
• beginner's trap

Translations

someone who just recently started

• Arabic: مُبْتَدِئ‎ m (mubtadiʾ)
• Bulgarian: начинаещ (bg) m (načinaešt), новак (bg) m (novak)
• Catalan: principiant (ca) m or f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 初學者 (zh), 初学者 (zh) (chūxuézhě)

• Czech: začátečník (cs) m
• Dutch: beginner (nl) m
• Esperanto: komencanto (eo)
• Estonian: algaja
• Finnish: aloittelija (fi), vasta-alkaja (fi)
• French: débutant (fr) m, débutante (fr) f
• Galician: principiante (gl) m or f, novato m
• German: Anfänger (de) m, Anfängerin (de) f
• Greek: πρωτάρης (el) m (protáris)
• Hebrew: ^{(please verify)} מתחיל‎ m (matkhil), ^{(please verify)} מתחילה‎ f (matkhila)
• Hindi: शुरुआत (hi) (śuruāt)
• Hungarian: kezdő (hu)
• Icelandic: ^{(please verify)} byrjandi m
• Indonesian: pemula (id), pemula (id)
• Interlingue: comensante
• Italian: principiante (it) m or f
• Japanese: 初心者 (ja) (しょしんしゃ, shoshinsha), 初学者 (しょがくしゃ, shogakusha), ビギナー (biginā), 新参 (しんざん, shinzan)
• Kalmyk: эклгч (eklgç)
• Korean: 초심자 (ko) (chosimja) (初心者 (ko)), 초보자 (ko) (choboja)
• Latin: tīrō (la) m

• Macedonian: почетник m (početnik)
• Norman: c'menchant m
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: nybegynner (no) m

  Nynorsk: nybyrjar m, nybegynnar m

• Persian: مبتدی‎ (fa), تازه‌کار‎ (fa)
• Polish: początkujący (pl) m or m pl
• Portuguese: novato (pt) m, iniciante, principiante (pt)
• Romanian: începător (ro) m, începătoare (ro) f
• Russian: начина́ющий (ru) m (načinájuščij), новичо́к (ru) m (novičók)
• Scottish Gaelic: neach-tòiseachaidh m
• Serbo-Croatian: početnik (sh) m
• Spanish: principiante (es) m or f, novato (es) m
• Swedish: nybörjare (sv) c
• Tagalog: singki
• Thai: ผู้เริ่มเรียน (pôo rêrm rian), มือใหม่ (th) (meu mài)
• Turkish: acemi (tr), çöne
• Ukrainian: новачок (uk) m (novačok)
• Urdu: شروعات‎ (śuruāt)
• Vietnamese: người bắt đầu, người mới học
• Volapük: priman (vo) m or f, hipriman m, jipriman (vo) f
• Yiddish: אָנפֿאַנגער‎ (onfanger), אָנהייבער‎ m (onheyber)

someone who sets something in motion

• Dutch: starter (nl)
• Estonian: alustaja
• Finnish: avaaja (fi), aloittaja (fi), alkuunpanija (fi)

• Romanian: inițiator (ro) m
• Spanish: iniciador (es)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Interlingua: ^{(please verify)} comenciator, ^{(please verify)} comenciante, ^{(please verify)} initiator, ^{(please verify)} initiante

• Latin: ^{(please verify)} inceptor, ^{(please verify)} initiator
• Volapük: ^{(please verify)} beginan

Further reading

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

Anagrams

• benigner, bergenin

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Dutch

Etymology

From beginnen +‎ -er.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bəˈɣɪnər/

• Audio

  (file)

• Hyphenation: be‧gin‧ner
• Rhymes: -ɪnər

Noun

beginner m (plural beginners, diminutive beginnertje n)

1. Someone who is just starting something, or has only recently started (similar to English)

   Hij kan goed schaken voor een beginner. ― He plays chess well for a beginner.

Derived terms

• beginnerscursus