different between commence vs began

English

Etymology

From Middle English commencen, comencen (also as contracted comsen, cumsen), from Anglo-Norman comencer, cumencer, comencier, from Vulgar Latin *cominiti?, *cominiti?re, formed from Latin com- + initi? (see initiate).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /k??m?ns/
• Rhymes: -?ns

Verb

commence (third-person singular simple present commences, present participle commencing, simple past and past participle commenced)

1. (intransitive) To begin, start.
   • 1601, William Shakespeare, The Phoenix and the Turtle,^[1]

     Here the anthem doth commence:

   • 1770, Oliver Goldsmith, “The Deserted Village” in The Miscellaneous Works of Oliver Goldsmith, London: W. Griffin, 1775, p. 164,^[2]

     His heaven commences ere the world be past!

   • 1851, Herman Melville, Moby-Dick, Chapter 4,^[3]

     He commenced dressing at top by donning his beaver hat, a very tall one, by the by, and then—still minus his trowsers—he hunted up his boots.
2. (transitive) To begin to be, or to act as.
   • 1743, Robert Drury, The Pleasant, and Surprizing Adventures of Mr. Robert Drury, during his Fifteen Years Captivity on the Island of Madagascar, London, p. 126,^[4]

     […] he furnish’d me with a Gun, Cartouch-box, and Powder-horn, &c. and thus accouter’d I commenc’d Soldier.

   • 1825, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Aids to Reflection in the Formation of a Manly Character, London: Taylor & Hessey, Prudential Aphorisms, Aphorism 15, p. 48,^[5]

     When we are wearied of the trouble of prosecuting crimes at the bar, we commence judges ourselves […]

3. (Britain, intransitive, dated) To take a degree at a university.
   • 1655, Thomas Fuller, The Church-History of Britain, London: John Williams, The Seventh Century, p. 75,^[6]

     […] I question whether the Formality of Commencing was used in that Age: inclining rather to the negative, that such Distinction of Graduates was then unknown […]

   • 1861, George John Gray, Athenae Cantabrigienses: 1586-1609 (page 272)

     […] was admitted a minor fellow of his college 4 Oct. 1591, a major fellow 11 March 1591-2, and commenced M.A. in 1592.

Antonyms

• cease
• stop

Related terms

• commencement
• initiate

Translations

French

Pronunciation

Verb

commence

1. first-person singular present indicative of commencer
2. third-person singular present indicative of commencer
3. first-person singular present subjunctive of commencer
4. third-person singular present subjunctive of commencer
5. second-person singular imperative of commencer

Louisiana Creole French

Etymology

From French commencer (“to commence”), compare Haitian Creole kòmanse.

Verb

commence

1. to begin, commence

References

• Alcée Fortier, Louisiana Folktales

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, UK) IPA^(key): /b???æn/
• (General American, US) IPA^(key): /b???æn/
• Rhymes: -æn
• Hyphenation: be?gan

Verb

began

1. simple past tense of begin
2. (obsolete) past participle of begin

Derived terms

• beganst

Anagrams

• Bange, abeng, benga

Middle Dutch

Verb

began

1. first/third-person singular past indicative of beginnen

Old English

Etymology

From be- +? g?n. Cognate with Old High German big?n.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /be????n/

Verb

beg?n

1. to bego, go over, traverse; get to, come by, fall into
2. to go to, visit, care for, cultivate, affect

3. to occupy, inhabit, dwell, surround, besiege, overrun

4. to practise, do, engage in, perform, commit, exercise, attend to, be diligent about, honor, serve, worship, profess; pledge, devote, train oneself

Conjugation

Derived terms

• forebeg?n
• misbeg?n
• unbeg?n

Descendants

• Middle English: bigon, begon
  • English: bego

References

• John R. Clark Hall (1916) , “beg?n”, in A Concise Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, 2nd edition, New York: Macmillan.
• Joseph Bosworth and T. Northcote Toller (1898) , “beg?n”, in An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, 2nd edition, Oxford: Oxford University Press.