Begin in Different Languages
Discover 'Begin' in 134 Languages: Dive into Translations, Hear Pronunciations, and Uncover Cultural Insights.
Begin
Afrikaans begin | ||
Albanian filloj | ||
Amharic ጀምር | ||
Arabic ابدأ | ||
Armenian սկսել | ||
Assamese আৰম্ভ কৰা | ||
Aymara qalltaña | ||
Azerbaijani başlamaq | ||
Bambara ka daminɛ | ||
Basque hasi | ||
Belarusian пачаць | ||
Bengali শুরু | ||
Bhojpuri चालू कयिल | ||
Bosnian početi | ||
Bulgarian започнете | ||
Catalan començar | ||
Cebuano magsugod | ||
Chinese (Simplified) 开始 | ||
Chinese (Traditional) 開始 | ||
Corsican principià | ||
Croatian početi | ||
Czech začít | ||
Danish begynde | ||
Dhivehi ފެށުން | ||
Dogri शुरू | ||
Dutch beginnen | ||
English begin | ||
Esperanto komenci | ||
Estonian algama | ||
Ewe dze egᴐme | ||
Filipino (Tagalog) magsimula | ||
Finnish alkaa | ||
French commencer | ||
Frisian begjinne | ||
Galician comezar | ||
Georgian დაიწყოს | ||
German start | ||
Greek αρχίζουν | ||
Guarani ñepyrũ | ||
Gujarati શરૂઆત | ||
Haitian Creole kòmanse | ||
Hausa fara | ||
Hawaiian hoʻomaka | ||
Hebrew התחל | ||
Hindi शुरू | ||
Hmong pib | ||
Hungarian kezdődik | ||
Icelandic byrja | ||
Igbo malite | ||
Ilocano irugi | ||
Indonesian mulai | ||
Irish tosú | ||
Italian inizio | ||
Japanese ベギン | ||
Javanese miwiti | ||
Kannada ಆರಂಭಿಸಲು | ||
Kazakh баста | ||
Khmer ចាប់ផ្តើម | ||
Kinyarwanda tangira | ||
Konkani सुरवात | ||
Korean 시작하다 | ||
Krio bigin | ||
Kurdish destpêkirin | ||
Kurdish (Sorani) دەستپێکردن | ||
Kyrgyz баштоо | ||
Lao ເລີ່ມຕົ້ນ | ||
Latin incipere | ||
Latvian sākt | ||
Lingala kobanda | ||
Lithuanian pradėti | ||
Luganda okutandika | ||
Luxembourgish ufänken | ||
Macedonian започне | ||
Maithili शुरू | ||
Malagasy manomboka | ||
Malay bermula | ||
Malayalam ആരംഭിക്കുന്നു | ||
Maltese tibda | ||
Maori tiimata | ||
Marathi सुरू | ||
Meiteilon (Manipuri) ꯍꯧꯕ | ||
Mizo bultan | ||
Mongolian эхлэх | ||
Myanmar (Burmese) အစ | ||
Nepali सुरु गर्नुहोस् | ||
Norwegian begynne | ||
Nyanja (Chichewa) yamba | ||
Odia (Oriya) ଆରମ୍ଭ କର | | ||
Oromo jalqabuu | ||
Pashto پيل كيدل؛ شروع كيدل: او چنېدل، راوتل | ||
Persian شروع | ||
Polish zaczynać | ||
Portuguese (Portugal, Brazil) início | ||
Punjabi ਸ਼ੁਰੂ | ||
Quechua qallariy | ||
Romanian începe | ||
Russian начать | ||
Samoan amata | ||
Sanskrit आरम्भ | ||
Scots Gaelic tòiseachadh | ||
Sepedi thoma | ||
Serbian почети | ||
Sesotho qala | ||
Shona tanga | ||
Sindhi شروع ڪريو | ||
Sinhala (Sinhalese) ආරම්භය | ||
Slovak začať | ||
Slovenian začeti | ||
Somali bilow | ||
Spanish empezar | ||
Sundanese mimiti | ||
Swahili anza | ||
Swedish börja | ||
Tagalog (Filipino) magsimula | ||
Tajik оғоз | ||
Tamil தொடங்கு | ||
Tatar башларга | ||
Telugu ప్రారంభం | ||
Thai เริ่ม | ||
Tigrinya ጀምር | ||
Tsonga sungula | ||
Turkish başla | ||
Turkmen başla | ||
Twi (Akan) hyɛ aseɛ | ||
Ukrainian почати | ||
Urdu شروع | ||
Uyghur باشلاش | ||
Uzbek boshlash | ||
Vietnamese bắt đầu | ||
Welsh dechrau | ||
Xhosa qala | ||
Yiddish אָנהייבן | ||
Yoruba berè | ||
Zulu qala |
Etymology & Notes
| Language | Etymology / Notes |
|---|---|
| Afrikaans | The origin of the Afrikaans word "begin" can be traced back to the Dutch "beghinnen", a group of religious women who lived in communal houses. |
| Albanian | The word "filloj" in Albanian is derived from the Proto-Albanian word "*fillo-," which means "to grow," and is related to the Greek word "φύλλον" (phyllon), meaning "leaf." |
| Amharic | The word "ጀምር" also means "to start something new" or "to initiate something". |
| Arabic | The word 'ابدأ' can also be used to mean 'to create' or 'to originate'. |
| Armenian | "Սկսել" is a polysemic verb that, depending on the context, also can mean to originate or to start something for the first time. |
| Azerbaijani | The word "başlamaq" also means "to start" or "to initiate" in Azerbaijani. |
| Basque | "Hasi" comes from Proto-Basque "*asiri," related to "hast" ("grab") and "ahasi" ("start"). |
| Belarusian | The word "пачаць" in Belarusian is derived from the Proto-Slavic root *po-čęti, meaning "to start, to begin". |
| Bengali | "শুরু" (begin) in Bengali may derive from the Sanskrit word "शुरू" (beginning) or the Prakrit word "सुरु" (start). |
| Bosnian | "Početi" also means "to act", "to do", or "to make". |
| Bulgarian | The word "започнете" can also mean "to start a journey" or "to set out on a path" in Bulgarian. |
| Catalan | The Catalan word 'començar' derives from the Latin 'cominitiare', meaning 'to entrust'. |
| Cebuano | Magsugod may also refer to the start or beginning of a new phase in life. |
| Chinese (Simplified) | 开始 (kǎishǐ) is also used to mean 'to open' or 'to start operating'. |
| Chinese (Traditional) | 開始 literally means "to launch a boat", which is the origin of the character "開" meaning "open". |
| Corsican | The Corsican word "principià" (begin) is derived from the Latin "principiare" (to begin) and also has the alternate meaning of "to start something". |
| Croatian | The word "početi" can also mean "to make" or "to do". |
| Czech | The word 'začít' shares the same Proto-Slavic root as 'počátek' ('beginning'), but it originally meant 'to conceive'. |
| Danish | The word "begynde" in Danish is derived from the Old Norse word "byrgja", meaning "to protect" or "to defend". |
| Dutch | The Dutch word "beginnen" has similar alternate meanings to the German one, such as "to start a dispute" and "to start crying". |
| Esperanto | The word "komenci" is also used in Esperanto to mean "to start" or "to commence". |
| Estonian | The word "algama" is thought to be derived from the Proto-Uralic verb "*alga-/*alge-", meaning "to become; to come." |
| Finnish | Alkaa is cognate with the Estonian word "algama", the Latvian word "sākt", and the Prussian word "algan", all meaning "to begin". |
| French | The French word "commencer" derives from "commémorer" ("to commemorate"), as something is initiated to commemorate an event. |
| Frisian | The word "begjinne" in Frisian derives from the Latin word "begina", meaning "female religious devotee". |
| Galician | The Galician word "comezar" derives from the Latin "cummittere," meaning "to send forth or to commit." |
| German | In German, "start" can also mean "tail" or "stern," likely derived from the Old High German word "starz," meaning "end" or "projecting part of the body." |
| Greek | "Αρχίζω" (archízo) derives from the Greek word "αρχή" (archí), which means "beginning, origin, or rule". It implies initiation, commencement, or taking the first step. |
| Gujarati | The word "શરૂઆત" also means "beginning", "commencement", or "outset". |
| Haitian Creole | The Haitian Creole word "kòmanse" derives from the French word "commencer" meaning "to start". |
| Hausa | "Fara" also signifies "to initiate" or "to commence" |
| Hawaiian | "Hoʻomaka" has the alternate meaning of "to sprout". |
| Hebrew | The verb 'התחל' ('begin') in Hebrew is related to the word 'חול' ('sand'), suggesting a sense of starting something from scratch. |
| Hindi | The word "शुरू" is derived from the Sanskrit word "शुर्य" meaning "sun" and also has the alternate meaning of "auspicious start". |
| Hmong | In Hmong, "pib" can also mean "root" or "beginning" of something. |
| Hungarian | The word "kezdődik" is derived from the Proto-Uralic verb "*keče-" meaning "to open". |
| Icelandic | Byrja is also a noun referring to a favorable wind that brings a ship out to sea. |
| Igbo | Malite shares its root with the word 'malitegha' meaning 'to begin afresh' and 'malitegharil' meaning 'recommencement'. |
| Indonesian | The word "mulai" also means "to start" or "to initiate" and is derived from the Proto-Austronesian word *mulaŋ. |
| Irish | 'Tosú' is derived from the Old Irish word 'tossach', meaning 'beginning' or 'origin'. |
| Italian | "Inizio" shares an etymological root with "initiate": the Latin "initiare". |
| Japanese | 「ベギン」は英語の「begin」の音訳で、日本語では「始まる」という意味のほか、「信心深い」という意味もある。 |
| Javanese | "Miwiti" can also mean "to establish" or "to start (doing something)" in Javanese. |
| Kannada | The word "ಆರಂಭಿಸಲು" ("begin") is a causative form of the verb "ಆರಂಭ" ("origin"), which can also mean "to start", "to commence", "to initiate", or "to set in motion". |
| Kazakh | The word "баста" in Kazakh not only means "begin", but also has the meaning of "enough" or "stop". |
| Khmer | In Khmer, the word "ចាប់ផ្តើម" can also mean "to start working on something" or "to commence doing something." |
| Korean | 시작 (sikjak) is also the imperative form of the verb 시키다 (sikida), which means “make someone do something.” |
| Kurdish | The word "destpêkirin" in Kurdish can also mean "to start a revolution" or "to start a war". |
| Kyrgyz | The Kyrgyz word "баштоо" can also mean "to create" or "to establish". |
| Latin | Incipere is a Latin verb meaning "to begin" or "to undertake" and is the root of the English word "incipient". |
| Latvian | The word "sākt" in Latvian shares an etymology with the word "seed" in English, both descending from the Proto-Indo-European root *seh₂- meaning "to sow". |
| Lithuanian | The Lithuanian word "pradėti" is also cognate with the English word "practice". |
| Luxembourgish | "Ufänken" is an informal term in Luxembourgish that is most likely derived from the archaic German expression "uff anken", which means "begin work" or "commence an action". |
| Macedonian | "Започне" (begin) derives from the Proto-Slavic "zaponti", meaning "to sing a song". |
| Malagasy | The Malagasy word "manomboka," meaning "to begin," is also used to refer to the starting point of a journey or task. |
| Malay | "Bermula" is an archaic Malay word for "begin" that is also used to mean "originally" or "in the first place." |
| Maltese | The Maltese word "tibda" is derived from the Arabic word "ibtida'", which means "beginning" or "commencement." |
| Maori | In Maori, the word 'tiimata' also means 'first fruits' or 'inauguration'. |
| Marathi | Marathi word 'सुरू' may have originated from Sanskrit word 'सु' and 'रू' which means 'good' and 'growth' respectively. |
| Mongolian | The word "Эхлэх" also has a secondary meaning of "to start up" or "to set in motion". |
| Myanmar (Burmese) | The etymology of "အစ" is from Proto-Burushaski */atʃ/ meaning "a little; first; time, season; occasion; period of time; beginning" which is also the root of the word for "year" in Burusho. |
| Nepali | The Nepali word "सुरु गर्नुहोस्" is derived from the Sanskrit word "सुरु" meaning "to begin" but it can also mean "to undertake" or "to commence." |
| Norwegian | In Norwegian, "begynne" can also mean "to commit", coming from the Old Norse word "byggja", referring to building or creating something. |
| Nyanja (Chichewa) | In Chichewa, "yamba" also means to "start on" something, as in 'yamba ulendo' (start on a journey). |
| Pashto | In addition to meaning "begin," "پيل كيدل" or "شروع كيدل" can also mean "to emerge" or "to come out." |
| Persian | The word "شروع" comes from the Arabic word "شروق" meaning "sunrise" and also means "to start" in Persian. |
| Polish | The word 'zaczynać' also means 'to start', 'to commence' and 'to initiate'. |
| Portuguese (Portugal, Brazil) | "Início" comes from the Latin word "initium", which means "beginning" or "commencement". |
| Romanian | "Începe" is also a Romanian verb meaning "to try" and "to start" (an activity). |
| Russian | The Russian word "начать" can also mean "to initiate" or "to commence". |
| Samoan | "Amata" can also mean "beloved" or "love" in Samoan. |
| Scots Gaelic | The Scots Gaelic word `tòiseachadh` also encompasses the idea of becoming aware of or realizing something. |
| Serbian | An alternate definition of "почети" is "to wait".} |
| Sesotho | Qala is a homophone with another word meaning 'to get lost', and has a related word meaning 'to be lost'. |
| Shona | The word 'tanga' can also mean 'to originate' or 'to be created' |
| Sindhi | The word "شروع ڪريو" can also be used to mean "to commence" in Sindhi. |
| Sinhala (Sinhalese) | The Sinhala word "ආරම්භය" is derived from the Sanskrit word "आरम्भ" and can also refer to a foundation or commencement. |
| Slovak | "Začať" is also an archaic spelling of "začať" ("to charm"), a word deriving from the Proto-Slavic root *čet- ("to cast a spell"). |
| Slovenian | "Začeti" derives from the Proto-Slavic word *čęti, meaning "to do" or "to make". |
| Somali | The word 'bilow' in Somali can also mean 'to start' or 'to commence' an activity. |
| Spanish | "Empezar" comes from the Latin "incipere", which also means "to begin", and "empezar" can also mean "to start a business". |
| Sundanese | "Mimiti" is also used to mean "to become" or "to start to do something." |
| Swahili | The word "anza" can also mean "start, commence, or initiate" in Swahili. |
| Swedish | The Swedish word "börja" has alternate meanings including "originate", "commence", "initiate", "set out", and "get going". |
| Tagalog (Filipino) | "Magsimula" can also mean "to embark on" or "to set out". |
| Tajik | The word "Оғоз" derives from the Persian word "آغاز" (āghāz), meaning "beginning" or "commencement". |
| Tamil | Thodungu in Tamil is used to refer to the process of starting something as well as the point of beginning from which something starts. |
| Telugu | The word "ప్రారంభం" also means "in the beginning" or "at the start" in Telugu. |
| Thai | "เริ่ม" (begin) in Thai also means "to touch" (as a verb) and also connotes the act of "entering upon" something. |
| Turkish | Başla, “to suppress” and “to press down” in Turkish, is derived from the Persian word “baştan” meaning “to oppress”. |
| Ukrainian | The Ukrainian verb "почати" also means "to conceive a child" or "to start to smoke". |
| Urdu | The Urdu word "شروع" (begin) comes from the Arabic word "شروع" (to start or commence). |
| Uzbek | The word "boshlash" in Uzbek has its origins in the Persian word "āghāz". |
| Vietnamese | The word "bắt đầu" is formed from two words: "bắt" (to catch) and "đầu" (head), meaning to "seize the head" or "take the lead". |
| Welsh | Dechrau also means the first part of something in Welsh, for example a film or book chapter. |
| Xhosa | Qala is also an idiom in Xhosa meaning to start making preparations for a new task. |
| Yiddish | The Yiddish word "אָנהייבן" (begin) shares a common root with the German "anheben," meaning "to lift up" or "to begin." |
| Yoruba | Yoruba word "berè" derives from verb "bẹ̀rẹ̀" and can also mean "open" or "start off". |
| Zulu | The word 'qala' also means 'to talk,' 'to say,' or 'to tell' in Zulu. |
| English | The word 'begin' originates from the Old English word 'beginnan,' which also means 'to do, make, cultivate,' indicating the inherent connection between starting something and actively engaging in it. |