begin
verbnouncommon in dialogue
- //bɪˈɡɪn//
- //bəˈɡɪn//
- //biˈɡɪn//
To start, to initiate or take the first step into something.
verb
- 1
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.
The program begins at 9 o’clock on the dot.
I rushed to get to class on time, but the lesson had already begun.
- 2
To come into existence.
Vast chain of being! which from God began.
Etymology
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
- 1
Beginning; start.
In prayer, in the light, I see my kin / I touch my tree, my roots, my begin
Forms
- plural
- begins
- past tense
- began
- past participle
- begun
- present participle
- beginning
- third person singular
- begins
begin · To start, to initiate or take the first step into something.
beginner · Someone who is just starting at something, or has only…beginning · The act of doing that which begins anything; commencement of…begun · Having began.