beget

English

WOTD – 9 October 2009

Etymology

From Middle English begeten, biȝeten, from Old English beġietan (“to get, find, acquire, attain, receive, take, seize, happen, beget”), from Proto-Germanic *bigetaną (“to find, seize”), equivalent to be- +‎ get. Cognate with Old Saxon bigetan (“to find, seize”), Old High German bigezan (“to gain, achieve, win, procure”).

Pronunciation

  • (UK, US) IPA(key): /biˈɡɛt/, /bɪˈɡɛt/, /bəˈɡɛt/
  • Rhymes: -ɛt

Verb

beget (third-person singular simple present begets, present participle begetting, simple past begot or begat, past participle begotten)

  1. To cause; to produce.
  2. To father; to sire; to produce (a child).
  3. (Britain dialectal) To happen to; befall.

Quotations

  • , Genesis 5:3
    And Adam lived an hundred and thirty years, and begat a son in his own likeness, after his image; and called his name Seth: […]
  • 2012 February 1, Kathy Gilbert, “Pitching In”, in Chatter Chattanooga‎, retrieved 2012-09-29:
    Rugby football was created in the early 1800s at England’s all-boys Rugby School. The sport begat American football, Gaelic football, Australian rules football and Association football (aka soccer).

Translations

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.

See also

References

  • beget in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911
  • beget in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
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