Begins

Part of speech: verb

Pronunciation: /bɪˈɡɪnz/

Definitions

1. To start doing an action or process
2. To commence an activity or undertake a task
3. To initiate or set in motion an action or event

Etymology: "Begins" is the third-person singular present form of "begin", so its history is that of the verb. Old English "beginnan" grew from the prefix "be-" attached to "ginnan", a base verb meaning roughly "to open" or "to set about", which also survives in the Old English "onginnan", the same idea with a different prefix. The Germanic family behind it gave the verb a sense of initiating something, which is why the modern meaning of setting an action or event in motion sits so close to its ancestors. The pairing of "be-" with a verb of opening or starting is a common pattern in Germanic, where prefixes often sharpened or completed a basic idea. Middle English "beginnen" carried the word forward in the same role, and by the time it reached modern English it had lost nothing of its core sense of a first move.

Synonyms: starts, commences, initiates

Antonyms: ends, finishes, concludes