commencement

English

Etymology

From French commencement; analyzable as commence +‎ -ment.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kəˈmɛnsmənt/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: com‧mence‧ment

Noun

commencement (countable and uncountable, plural commencements)

1. The first existence of anything; act or fact of commencing; the beginning.

   Synonyms: rise, origin, beginning, start, dawn

   The time of Henry VII nearly coincides with the commencement of what is termed modern history.

   • 1800, William Took, View of the Russian empire during the reign of Catharine the Second:

     Yet from the commencement of mining there have been unnoble proprietors of mines, who belonged to the class of merchants.

   • 2022 January 12, “Network News: Thousands savour Okehampton visit”, in RAIL, number 948, page 11:

     Commencement of a two-hourly service pattern by GWR marked the return of regular services to Okehampton for the first time since their withdrawal in 1972. There are plans to extend this to hourly.

2. The day when degrees are conferred by colleges and universities upon students and others.
3. A graduation ceremony, from a school, college or university. Sometimes before the actual graduation.

Coordinate terms

• (graduation ceremony): convocation

Derived terms

• begincement
• noncommencement

 

Related terms

• commence

Translations

an act of commencing or beginning

• Arabic: فاتِحَة f (fātiḥa)
• Armenian: սկիզբ (hy) (skizb)
• Dutch: aanvang (nl) m
• Finnish: alku (fi), aloitus (fi)
• Malay: pembukaan (ms), permulaan (ms)
• Maori: ōrokotīmatanga, tīmatanga, atinga
• Plautdietsch: Aunfank m
• Portuguese: começo (pt) m, início (pt) m
• Russian: нача́ло (ru) n (načálo)
• Sanskrit: आद (sa) m (āda), आरम्भ (sa) m (ārambha)
• Spanish: inicio (es) m, incoación (es) f, comienzo (es) m

day degrees are conferred

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: ^{(please verify)} 學位授予日／学位授予日

• Finnish: valmistumispäivä
• Indonesian: wisuda (id)
• Malay: konvokesyen (ms), hari konvo

graduation ceremony

• Dutch: afsluitceremonie f
• Finnish: valmistujaisseremonia, promootio (fi), valmistujaiset (fi)
• Indonesian: wisuda (id)
• Malay: majlis konvokesyen, istiadat konvokesyen, upacara konvokesyen, majlis penyampaian ijazah,​ majlis graduasi
• Mandarin: 畢業典禮／毕业典礼 (zh) (bìyè diǎnlǐ)
• Portuguese: formatura (pt) f

References

• “commencement”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “commencement”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

French

Etymology

From Old French comencement, corresponding to commencer (“to begin”) +‎ -ment.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kɔ.mɑ̃s.mɑ̃/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

commencement m (plural commencements)

1. beginning, start

Further reading

• “commencement”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Middle French

Etymology

Old French comencement, corresponding to commencer +‎ -ment

Noun

commencement m (plural commencemens)

1. beginning, start