Begin

Part of speech: verb

Pronunciation: /bɪˈɡɪn/

Definitions

1. To start or commence an action, process, or state of being
2. To initiate or set in motion an event, action, or process
3. To take the first step in carrying out an activity or procedure

Etymology: The verb "begin" is a plain Germanic inheritance, built from a prefix and a root that English has used since its earliest recorded days. Old English "beginnan" combined "be-" with "ginnan," a verb meaning roughly "to open up" or "to make a start," which is why the sense of initiating something has been baked into the word from the beginning. The same "ginnan" survives in Old English "onginnan," meaning "to begin" as well, so the language already had two overlapping ways of saying the same thing. Its path into modern English was smooth rather than dramatic. It descends from a Proto-Germanic form, *biginnaną, and was carried into Middle English as "beginnen" before shrinking to the spelling we use now. Nothing about it was borrowed from Latin or French, so the word has stayed within the Germanic core of English throughout its life.

Synonyms: start, commence, initiate, launch, embark

Antonyms: end, finish, conclude, terminate, stop