initiate

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   To start or set something in motion.

   The company initiated a new training program for staff.

2. 2
   verb

   To formally admit someone into a group, often with a special ceremony.

   New members are initiated into the society each spring.

3. 3
   noun

   A person who has been newly introduced to a group or special knowledge.

   The rituals are familiar to every initiate of the order.

Borrowed from Latin initiātus, perfect passive participle of initiō (“to begin, originate”) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix)), from initium (“a beginning”) + -ō (verb-forming suffix), from initus (“an entrance, coming in, approach”) + -ium, from ineō + -tus, from in- + eō (“to go”). Cognate with French initier.

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