beginner

Etymology

It is formed from English begin + -er,^[2][3][4][5] as an agent noun from the Middle English verb beginnen.^[6][4] begin is from Old English beginnan, formed from be- and Proto-West Germanic *ginnan, a verb of obscure origin that occurs only in compounds.^[6][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A person who begins something; an originator or founder: about 1400, in Pearl,^[2] or the early 14th century in Etymonline.^[6] Merriam-Webster dates the word to the 15th century.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The meaning "novice, someone just starting to learn" is recorded in Malory's Morte d'Arthur (1470–85),^[2] and Etymonline likewise dates it to the late 15th century.^[6] Johnson (1755) still gave "he that gives the first cause, or original, to any thing" as the first sense, with a quotation from Spenser.^[7] The older sense, a founder, survived in Lincolnshire dialect.^[8] About 1613 the word was also used of someone who goes first or takes the lead,^[2] and in architecture, from 1886, of the lower part of a mullion worked on the sill stone.^[2] The phrase beginner's luck, first used in gambling, is recorded by 1849 in Etymonline, but only from 1896, in Kipling's Captains Courageous, in the OED.^[6][2]

Timeline

• early 14th century – founder, originator (Etymonline).^[6]
• c. 1400 – one who begins; an originator, in Pearl.^[2]
• 1470–85 – a novice, in Malory.^[2]
• c. 1613 – one who goes first (obsolete).^[2]
• 1849 – beginner's luck (Etymonline).^[6]
• 1886 – in architecture, the lower part of a mullion.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A person who has just started to do or learn something; a novice: a swimming class for beginners.^[9][4][3]
2. A person who begins or starts something; an originator or founder.^[4][2][3]
3. beginner's luck: the good luck said to come to someone trying a game or activity for the first time.^[2][3]

Related words

• begin
• beginning

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
6. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
8. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
9. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins