began
English
editPronunciation
edit- (Received Pronunciation, UK) IPA(key): /bɪˈɡæn/
- (General American, US) IPA(key): /bɪˈɡæn/
Audio (US): (file) - Rhymes: -æn
- Hyphenation: be‧gan
Verb
editbegan
- simple past of begin
- (obsolete) past participle of begin
- 1817 (date written), [Jane Austen], chapter XI, in Persuasion; published in Northanger Abbey: And Persuasion. […], volume IV, London: John Murray, […], 20 December 1817 (indicated as 1818), →OCLC, page 285:
- He had no sooner been free from the horror and remorse attending the first few days of Louisa’s accident, no sooner begun to feel himself alive again, than he had began to feel himself, though alive, not at liberty.
Derived terms
editAnagrams
editMiddle Dutch
editVerb
editbegan
Old English
editEtymology
editFrom Proto-West Germanic *bigān. Equivalent to be- + gān. Cognate with Old High German bigān.
Pronunciation
editVerb
editbegān
- to bego, go over, traverse; get to, come by, fall into
- to go to, visit, care for, cultivate, affect
- Se ðe æcer begǽþ. ― He who cultivates land (acre) … a farmer (Ælfc. Gr. 7; Som. 6, 44.)
- to occupy, inhabit, dwell, surround, besiege, overrun
- Hí ðone búr útan beeódon. ― They surrounded the dwelling outside. (Chr. 755; Th. 83, 26, col. 1)
- to practise, do, engage in, perform, commit, exercise, attend to, be diligent about, honor, serve, worship, profess; pledge, devote, train oneself
- He begǽþ unmǽtas ― He commits gluttonies. (Deut. 21, 20)
- Begá ðé sylfne to árfæstnysse ― Train thyself to godliness. (1 Tim. 4, 7)
Conjugation
editConjugation of begān (irregular)
infinitive | begān | begānne |
---|---|---|
indicative mood | present tense | past tense |
first person singular | begā | beēode |
second person singular | begǣst | beēodest |
third person singular | begǣþ | beēode |
plural | begāþ | beēodon |
subjunctive | present tense | past tense |
singular | begā | beēode |
plural | begān | beēoden |
imperative | ||
singular | begā | |
plural | begāþ | |
participle | present | past |
begānde | begān |
Derived terms
editDescendants
editReferences
edit- John R. Clark Hall (1916) “begān”, in A Concise Anglo-Saxon Dictionary[1], 2nd edition, New York: Macmillan
- Joseph Bosworth and T. Northcote Toller (1898) “begān”, in An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, 2nd edition, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Categories:
- English 2-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio pronunciation
- Rhymes:English/æn
- Rhymes:English/æn/2 syllables
- English non-lemma forms
- English verb forms
- English terms with obsolete senses
- English terms with quotations
- English irregular simple past forms
- Middle Dutch non-lemma forms
- Middle Dutch verb forms
- Old English terms inherited from Proto-West Germanic
- Old English terms derived from Proto-West Germanic
- Old English terms prefixed with be-
- Old English terms with IPA pronunciation
- Old English lemmas
- Old English verbs
- Old English terms with quotations
- Old English irregular verbs