始める (Japanese)

Where does "始める" come from?

The Japanese verb 'hajimeru', meaning 'to begin' or 'to start', is inherited from Old Japanese[1]. Its ultimate ancestry traces back to the Proto-Japonic transitive verb '*pansimay', which also meant 'to begin'[1]. Over the history of the language, the verb underwent a regular grammatical shift, transitioning from the lower bigrade conjugation pattern seen in Old and Classical Japanese verbs ending in '-u' into the modern lower monograde conjugation class ending in '-eru'[1].

Open questions

• The Proto-Japonic form '*pansimay' is an unattested, reconstructed ancestral root. [1]

Full etymology tree

• 始める (hajimeru) (Japanese), 'to begin, to start, to initiate'
  • inherited (Old Japanese)
    • inherited *pansimay (Proto-Japonic)

Sources

1. 始める (hajimeru) (Japanese) - Wiktionary

Updated October 2026

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Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris