# begin
## English
### 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.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /bɪˈɡɪn/, /bəˈɡɪn/, /biˈɡɪn/
* Audio (UK):(file)
* Audio (US):(file)
* Rhymes: -ɪn

### Verb

begin (third-person singular simple present begins, present participle begining, simple past began, past participle begun)
* (transitive, intransitive) 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.
** 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: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 be in the first stage of some situation
    The program begins at 9 o’clock on the dot.
    I rushed to get to class on time, but the lesson had already begun.
* (intransitive) To come into existence.
** 1733, [Alexander Pope], An Essay on Man. […], (please specify |epistle=I to IV), London: Printed for J[ohn] Wilford, […], →OCLC:Vast chain of being! which from God began.

#### Synonyms

* commence
* initiate
* start

#### Derived terms

* begin at the wrong end
* beginnable
* beginner
* beginning
* begin upon
* begin with the chucky
* misbegun
* rebegin
* to begin with
* unbegun

#### Descendants

* Sranan Tongo: bigin
** Aukan: bigin
** Saramaccan: bigí

#### Translations
### Noun

begin (plural begins)
* (nonstandard) Beginning; start.
** 2006, Quynh Anh (lyrics and music), “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

* 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

* Bengi, being, beïng, binge

## Dutch
### Pronunciation

* IPA: /bəˈɣɪn/
* Audio:(file)
* Hyphenation: be‧gin
* Rhymes: -ɪn

### Etymology 1

From Middle Dutch begin, from Old Dutch *bigin, from Proto-West Germanic [Term?], from the verb *biginnan (“to begin”) (whence beginnen). Cognate with Old High German bigin and Old Frisian biginn. Compare with different prefix Old Dutch anagen, anagenni (“beginning”).

#### Noun

begin n (uncountable, diminutive beginnetje n)
* start, beginning
    Synonyms: aanvang, start

##### Descendants

* Negerhollands: begin

### Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

#### Verb

begin
* inflection of beginnen:
** first-person singular present indicative
** (in case of inversion) second-person singular present indicative
** imperative

### Anagrams

* benig

## Middle Dutch
### Etymology

From Old Dutch *bigin, from Proto-West Germanic [Term?], from the verb *biginnan (“to begin”). Cognate with Old High German bigin, Old Frisian biginn.

### Noun

begin n
* beginning, start
* origin, source

#### Declension

This noun needs an inflection-table template.

#### Descendants

* Dutch: begin
* Limburgish: begin

### Further reading

* “beghin (I)”, in Vroegmiddelnederlands Woordenboek, 2000
* Verwijs, E., Verdam, J. (1885–1929) “begin”, in Middelnederlandsch Woordenboek, The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, →ISBN

## Volapük
### Noun

begin (nominative plural begins)
* beginning

#### Declension

$^1$ status as a case is disputed $^2$ in later, non-classical Volapük only