Begin

Begin is an English verb meaning to start or to undertake. It is irregular: present tense begin; past tense began; past participle begun; present participle beginning. It can be used transitively as “begin a project” or intransitively as “the ceremony began.”

Etymology traces begin to Old English beginnan, from Proto-Germanic *biginnaną, with cognates in other Germanic languages such as Dutch beginnen and German beginnen. The word has appeared in English since its earliest stages and remains common in both formal and everyday usage.

Usage notes include the choice between “begin” and synonyms like “start.” The bare infinitive can be used as “begin to” or “begin doing,” with a subtle difference: “begin to” can be more tentative or formal, while “begin doing” emphasizes the activity itself. Common collocations include “begin with,” to indicate the starting point, “begin by,” describing the initial step, and “begin again,” signaling a restart after interruption.

In programming, begin is a keyword in several languages that marks the start of a block of code, usually paired with an end. Pascal, Ada, and VHDL use begin to open a block. SQL uses BEGIN to start a compound statement or a transaction, often in conjunction with END or COMMIT. The use and behavior of begin vary by language, but its role as a delimiter for a block is a common thread.