# beginning

Pronunciation: US say "bi-GIN-ing" /bɪˈɡɪn.ɪŋ/; UK

## Noun

1. The point in time or space at which something starts, or its first part or stage.
   - Simple: The start or first part of something.
   - _We missed the beginning of the film because of traffic._
   - _Readers often skim the beginning of a long report._
3. The source or first cause from which something originates.
   - Simple: The thing that starts or causes something else.
   - _Many myths name water as the beginning of all life._
   - _She believes curiosity is the beginning of all real learning._
5. Something that has been started; an early rudiment or basic element of a larger whole.
   - Simple: An early part of something that has just started to develop.
   - _The beginning of a smile crossed her face._
   - _After two weeks of camping, Tom had the beginnings of a scruffy beard._

## Verb

2. Present participle of begin. — present participle and gerund of begin
   - Simple: Present participle of begin. Use it with is, was, will be, and so on, to talk about something starting.
   - _Snow was beginning to fall as we left the house._
   - _The committee is beginning a review of the policy._

## Adjective

4. Forming the first portion of something extended in space or time. *(colloquial)*
   - Simple: Coming at the start of something that has parts or stages.
   - _The beginning sections of the report cover background material._
   - _The beginning chapters of the book are slow, but the ending is great._

## Origin

**Meanings 1, 3, 5** — Formed from begin and the suffix -ing, it appears in Middle English as biginning, beginninge and beginnunge.
**Meanings 2, 4** — Beginning is begin plus -ing. Its history runs back to Proto-Germanic *biginnandz, the present participle of *biginnaną ("to begin"), through an Old English *beginnende (found in writing only as onginnende) to Middle English begynnyng, also spelled bygynnynge.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/beginning (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).