DictionaryAI

beget

verb
bi-GET/biˈɡɛt/

Formsbegets, begetting, begot, begotten

4 meanings of beget

Practice

  1. 1
    father a childverbliterarytransitive
    To bring a child into being as its parent, especially as its father.

    In the old sagas, a hero might beget sons in every land he passed through.

    The duke died without begetting a legitimate heir, so the title passed to a cousin.

    UsagePast tense begot (biblical begat), past participle begotten, which often takes of to name the parent.

    Similarfather, sire

    Note

    This is the sense of the genealogies in the 1611 Bible, which run on the archaic past begat: Adam begat a son and called him Seth.

    Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

    • The King James Bible was first published in 1611. wwwe.lib.cam.ac.uk
    • The biblical genealogies use beget for fathering a child; the Adam and Seth example paraphrases Genesis 5:3. en.wikisource.org
  2. 2
    causeverbliterarytransitive
    To cause or produce something, so that it comes into existence as a result.

    Policies that reward speed over care beget sloppy work.

    Violence begets violence, and the feud between the two families dragged on for generations.

    UsageOften in a mirror pattern, a thing producing more of itself: violence begets violence, money begets money.

    Similarbreed

    Note

    Its subject is a custom, an institution or a sport rather than a parent, and the old past begat is still at home here in lineages of things: coffeehouses begat insurance companies, and rugby begat American football.

    Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

  3. 3
    verbobsoletetransitive
    To get hold of something or come into possession of it.
    Note

    The meaning the word was built with: be- plus get, from Old English beġietan, "to get," and behind that a Germanic verb for finding or seizing. It is now obsolete, and a modern reader meeting beget will hear fathering a child or causing something instead, so in present-day writing get or obtain is the safe choice.

    Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 2 facts

    • Beget is equivalent to be- plus get, descends from Old English beġietan meaning “to get,” and ultimately derives from a Germanic verb meaning “to find, seize.” en.wiktionary.org
    • The acquisition meaning is inherited from the word’s ancestor. en.wiktionary.org

Less common meaning

  1. 4
    verbdialectalUK
    To happen to a person or thing; to befall.

Practice

Can you tell the meanings of beget apart? Answer 4 quick questions from this page, or write your own sentence and AI will check it.

Origin

Old English beġietan ("to get") goes back to Proto-Germanic *bigetaną, meaning "to find, seize," and is made of be- plus get. It became Middle English begeten, with influence from geta, the Old Norse verb for "to get, to guess." Its cognates are Old Saxon bigetan ("to find, seize") and bigezan, which in Old High German meant "to gain, achieve, win, procure."

Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 8 facts