[edit]English Wikipedia has an article on:beginWikipedia
Etymology
[edit]
From Middle Englishbeginnen, from Old Englishbeginnan(“to begin”), from Proto-West Germanic*biginnan, from Proto-Germanic*biginnaną(“to begin”), from be- + base verb *ginnaną also found in Old Englishonginnan.
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)
(ergative) To start, to initiate or take the first step into something. I began playing the piano at the age of five.(transitive)Now that everyone is here, we should begin the presentation.(transitive)The program begins at 9 o’clock on the dot.(intransitive)I rushed to get to class on time, but the lesson had already begun.(intransitive)
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.
2007, Nicky Gregson, Living with Things: Ridding, Accommodation, Dwelling, page 48:As Andrew, in particular, began to work on renovation and improvement, his talk about this began to be peppered with references to 'bodgery' — 'When I look at it, all I see is bodgery, he says recurrently, with a mixture of exclamation and despair.
2008 April 9, Yudhijit Bhattacharjee, “Harnessing Biology, and Avoiding Oil, for Chemical Goods”, in The New York Times[1]:Similarly, the biotech giant Cargill has begun manufacturing a polymer from vegetable oils that is used in polyurethane foams, which is found in beddings, furniture and car-seat headrests.
2009, Brandon Lang, Stanley Cohen, Beating the Odds: The Rise, Fall, and Resurrection of a Sports Handicapper, →ISBN:State begins fouling and UCLA misses a couple of front-end free throws on one-and-ones.
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.
(intransitive) To come into existence.
1733, [Alexander Pope], An Essay on Man.[…], (please specify |epistle=I to IV), London: […] J[ohn] Wilford,[…], →OCLC:Vast chain of being! which from God began.
Conjugation
[edit]
Conjugation of begin
infinitive
(to) begin
present tense
past tense
1st-person singular
begin
began
2nd-person singular
begin, beginnest†
began, beganst†, begannest†
3rd-person singular
begins, beginneth†
began
plural
begin
subjunctive
begin
began
imperative
begin
—
participles
beginning
begun
† Archaic or obsolete.
Synonyms
[edit]
See Thesaurus:begin.
Derived terms
[edit]
begin at the wrong end
beginnable
beginner
beginning
begin upon
begin with the chucky
misbegun
rebegin
to begin with
unbegun
Descendants
[edit]
Sranan Tongo: bigin
Aukan: bigin
Saramaccan: bigí
Translations
[edit] to start, to initiate (transitive) — see also commence, initiate
Afrikaans: begin (af)
Albanian: nis (sq), filloj (sq)ze
American Sign Language: 1@InFinger-PalmDown-OpenB@CenterChesthigh 1@InFinger-PalmUp-OpenB@CenterChesthigh
2006, Quynh Anh, “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
[edit]
William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “begin”, in The Century Dictionary[…], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.
“begin”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
Anagrams
[edit]
Bengi, being, beïng, binge
Dutch
[edit]
Pronunciation
[edit]
IPA(key): /bəˈɣɪn/
Audio:
(file)
Hyphenation: be‧gin
Rhymes: -ɪn
Etymology 1
[edit]
From Middle Dutchbegin, from Old Dutch*bigin, from Proto-West Germanic [Term?], from the verb *biginnan(“to begin”) (whence beginnen). Cognate with Old High Germanbigin and Old Frisianbiginn. Compare with different prefix Old Dutchanagen, anagenni(“beginning”).
Noun
[edit]
beginn (uncountable, diminutive beginnetje n)
start, beginning Synonyms:aanvang, start
Descendants
[edit]
Negerhollands: begin
Etymology 2
[edit]
See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.
Verb
[edit]
begin
inflection of beginnen:
first-person singular present indicative
(in case of inversion) second-person singular present indicative
imperative
Anagrams
[edit]
benig
Middle Dutch
[edit]
Etymology
[edit]
From Old Dutch*bigin, from Proto-West Germanic [Term?], from the verb *biginnan(“to begin”). Cognate with Old High Germanbigin, Old Frisianbiginn.
Noun
[edit]
beginn
beginning, start
origin, source
Declension
[edit]
Strong neuter noun
singular
plural
nominative
begin
—
accusative
begin
—
genitive
begins
—
dative
beginne
—
Descendants
[edit]
Dutch: begin
Limburgish: begin
Further reading
[edit]
“beghin (I)”, in Vroegmiddelnederlands Woordenboek, 2000
Verwijs, E.; Verdam, J. (1885–1929), “begin”, in Middelnederlandsch Woordenboek, The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, →ISBN
Volapük
[edit]
Noun
[edit]
begin (nominative plural begins)
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 disputed2 in later, non-classical Volapük only
