Etimology
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.
verb
begin (third-person singular simple present begins, present participle beginning, simple past began, past participle begun)
(transitive, intransitive) To start, to initiate or take the first step into something.
(intransitive) To be in the first stage of some situation
(intransitive) To come into existence.
Examples
I began playing the piano at the age of five. Now that everyone is here, we should begin the presentation.
The Apoſtle begins our Knowledge in the Creatures, which lead us to the Knowledge of God, if we will make uſe of our Reaſon: [...]
Ye Nymphs of Solyma! begin the ſong: / To heav'nly themes ſublimer ſtrains belong.
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.
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.
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.
The program begins at 9 o'clock on the dot. I rushed to get to class on time, but the lesson had already begun.
Vast chain of being! which from God began.
Related words
synonyms
commence
initiate
start
noun
begin (plural begins)
(nonstandard) Beginning; start.