Word of the Day

: September 2, 2013

incipient

adjective in-SIP-ee-unt

What It Means

: beginning to come into being or to become apparent

incipient in Context

The project is still in its incipient stages, and the company has yet to reveal many details to the general public.

"Craig's anger at Irene's incipient dementia eventually becomes indulgence; Irene's dismay about losing her independence first turns into denial, then fear." - From a movie review by Michael O'Sullivan in the Daily Herald (Chicago), July 25, 2013

Did You Know?

A good starting point for any investigation of "incipient" is the Latin verb "incipere," which means "to begin." "Incipient" first emerged in English in a 1669 scientific text that referred to "incipient putrefaction." Later came the genesis of two related nouns, "incipiency" and "incipience," both of which are synonymous with "beginning." "Incipere" also stands at the beginning of the words "inception" ("an act, process, or instance of beginning") and "incipit," a term that literally means "it begins" and which was used for the opening words of a medieval text. "Incipere" itself derives from another Latin verb, "capere," which means "to take" or "to seize."