initial

Meanings

1. 1
   adj

   Happening at the very beginning; first.

   My initial reaction was one of shock.

2. 2
   noun

   The first letter of a name, especially of a person's full name.

   Please write your initials at the bottom of each page.

3. 3
   verb

   To write your initials on something as a short signature.

   Could you initial each page to confirm you have read it?

Appears in

Simplified etymology

Initial comes from Latin initium, meaning “beginning,” which derives from inire, “to go into” or “enter.”

From Middle French initial or directly from its Latin etymon initiālis (“of the beginning, incipient, initial”), from initium (“a going in, entrance, beginning”), from inire (“to go in, enter upon, begin”), from in (“in”) + ire (“to go”).

Topics

External links

• Google Images
• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary