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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

begin.

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

5 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

verb/bɪˈɡɪn//bəˈɡɪn//biˈɡɪn/
  1. To start, to initiate or take the first step into something.

    ergative
    I began playing the piano at the age of five.
    Now that everyone is here, we should begin the presentation.
  2. To come into existence.

    intransitive
Where this word comes from

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

noun/bɪˈɡɪn//bəˈɡɪn//biˈɡɪn/
  1. Beginning; start.

    nonstandard
Where this word comes from

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

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.