beginner

English

Etymology

From Middle English begynner, equivalent to begin +‎ -er. Cognate with West Frisian begjinner (“beginner”), Dutch beginner (“beginner”), Low German begünner (“beginner”), Danish nybegynder (“beginner, novice”, literally “new-beginner”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /bɪˈɡɪnə/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /bəˈɡɪnɚ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

beginner (plural beginners)

1. Someone who is just starting at something, or has only recently started.

   I'm new to learning Finnish: I'm just a beginner.

2. Someone who sets something in motion.

   The beginner of the games lit the ceremonial torch.

3. (theater) An actor who is present on stage in the first moments of a play.
   • 1949, Walter Macqueen-Pope, Gaiety: Theatre of Enchantment, page 60:

     On the stage, the beginners for the first piece had taken their places — the chorus were there, scared but determined, and in the wings waited Harlequin, in the person of Charles Lyall […]

Synonyms

• (recent starter): amateur, newbie
• See also Thesaurus:beginner

Derived terms

• beginnerish
• beginner slope
• beginner's trap
• prebeginner

Translations

someone who just recently started

Albanian: fillestar (sq) m Arabic: مُبْتَدِئ m (mubtadiʔ) Armenian: սկսնակ (hy) (sksnak) Basque: hasiberri Belarusian: пачатко́вец m (pačatkóvjec), нава́к m (navák), нава́чка f (naváčka), навачо́к m (navačók), навічо́к m (navičók) Bengali: নবিস (bn) (nobiś) Bulgarian: начина́ещ (bg) m (načináešt), нова́к (bg) m (novák) Burmese: please add this translation if you can Catalan: novençà (ca) m, novici (ca) m, novell (ca) m, principiant (ca) m or f Chinese: Mandarin: 初學者 / 初学者 (zh) (chūxuézhě), 新手 (zh) (xīnshǒu) Czech: nováček m, začátečník (cs) m, začátečnice f Danish: begynder (da) c Dutch: beginneling (nl) m, beginnelinge (nl) f, beginner (nl) m Esperanto: komencanto (eo) Estonian: algaja Finnish: aloittelija (fi), noviisi (fi), vasta-alkaja (fi) French: débutant (fr) m, débutante (fr) f Galician: principiante (gl) m or f, novato m, novata f Georgian: ახალბედა (axalbeda), დამწყები (damc̣q̇ebi) German: Anfänger (de) m, Anfängerin (de) f, Neuling (de) m Greek: αρχάριος (el) (archários), πρωτάρης (el) m (protáris) Hebrew: מתחיל (he) m (matkhíl) Hindi: नया (hi) (nayā) Hungarian: kezdő (hu), újonc (hu) Icelandic: (please verify) byrjandi (is) m Indonesian: pemula (id) Italian: principiante (it) m or f, debuttante (it) m or f, novizio (it) m, esordiente (it), novellino (it) m, neofita (it) m or f Japanese: 初心者 (ja) (しょしんしゃ, shoshinsha), 初学者 (ja) (しょがくしゃ, shogakusha), ビギナー (biginā), 新参 (ja) (しんざん, shinzan) Kalmyk: эклгч (eklgç) Khmer: please add this translation if you can Korean: 초심자(初心者) (ko) (chosimja), 초보자(初步者) (ko) (choboja) Ladino: empesante, adjami Lao: please add this translation if you can Latin: inceptor, tīrō (la) m Latvian: iesācējs m, iesācēja f Lithuanian: naujokas m Macedonian: почетник m (početnik) Malay: please add this translation if you can Maori: ihu hūpē, tauhou, ika tauhou Mongolian: please add this translation if you can Nepali: नयाँ (ne) (nayā̃) Norman: c'menchant m Norwegian: Bokmål: nybegynner (no) m Nynorsk: nybyrjar m, nybegynnar m Persian: مبتدی (fa) (mobtadi), نوچه (fa) (nowče), تازه‌کار (fa) (tâze-kâr) Plautdietsch: Aunfenja m Polish: debiutant (pl), adept (pl) m, adeptka (pl) f, początkujący (pl) m or m pl, nowicjusz (pl) m, nowicjuszka (pl) f Portuguese: novato (pt) m, iniciante (pt), principiante (pt) Romanian: începător (ro) m, începătoare (ro) f, debutant (ro) m Russian: дебюта́нт (ru) m (debjutánt), дебюта́нтка (ru) f (debjutántka), начина́ющий (ru) m (načinájuščij), новичо́к (ru) m (novičók) Scottish Gaelic: neach-tòiseachaidh m Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: по̀четнӣк m Roman: pòčetnīk (sh) m Slovak: začiatočník (sk) m, začiatočníčka f, nováčik m Slovene: začetnik (sl) m, začetnica (sl) f Spanish: principiante (es) m or f, novato (es) m, novillo (es) m, bisoño (es) m, en ciernes Swedish: nybörjare (sv) c, novis (sv) c Tagalog: singki Thai: มือใหม่ (th) (mʉʉ-mài) Tocharian B: ñwetstse Turkish: acemi (tr), çaylak (tr), çömez (tr), toy (tr), çöne (dialectal) Ukrainian: початкі́вець m (počatkívecʹ), новачо́к (uk) m (novačók), нова́к (uk) m (novák), нова́чка (uk) f (nováčka) Urdu: شروعات (śuruāt), مبتدی (mubtadī) Vietnamese: người bắt đầu, người mới học Volapük: priman (vo) m or f, hipriman m, jipriman (vo) f Welsh: dechreuwr (cy) m Yiddish: אָנפֿאַנגער (onfanger), אָנהייבער m (onheyber)

someone who sets something in motion

Dutch: starter (nl) Estonian: alustaja Finnish: avaaja (fi), aloittaja (fi), käynnistäjä (fi) Romanian: inițiator (ro) m Spanish: iniciador (es)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

Interlingua: (please verify) comenciator, (please verify) comenciante, (please verify) initiator, (please verify) initiante Latin: (please verify) initiator Norwegian: (please verify) novise m or f Volapük: (please verify) beginan

Further reading

• “beginner”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “beginner”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.

Anagrams

• benigner, bergenin

Dutch

Etymology

From beginnen +‎ -er.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bəˈɣɪnər/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: be‧gin‧ner
• Rhymes: -ɪnər

Noun

beginner m (plural beginners, diminutive beginnertje n)

1. someone who is just starting something, or has only recently started (similar to English)

   Hij kan goed schaken voor een beginner. ― He plays chess well for a beginner.

Derived terms

• beginnerscursus