"Begin" is a better word than "start"

At least in most meaningful contexts

What does it mean to start writing an essay?

Typing the first words, I guess. I started writing this essay yesterday, a little before noon.

What does it mean to begin writing an essay?

It could mean typing the first words of the final draft. It could mean typing the first words of the first draft. It could mean typing fragments into the iPhone Notes app. It could mean fleshing out one’s thoughts on a long river walk. It could mean talking with a friend about a silly idea I had, but I think there’s something there. It could mean seeing something in the wild that generates a spark in the brain.

It could mean lots of things, really, all of which happen at different points in time. And I think most of reality—inasmuch as a word like “most” can apply to a concept as gargantuan and ill-defined as “reality”—obeys this property, too, this inherent difficulty of identifying a start, this non-binary-ness.

At least, most of reality worth having conversations about, and most of reality that we can reasonably recall. For it is true that the hour started 32 minutes ago (as of writing this), and true that my current unemployment period started late November 2024, and true that I started seeing doctors for my dry-eye late October 2020, and true that I started choosing my own piano repertoire in my junior year of high school, and true that Donald Trump started his second term as U.S. President on January 20, 2025. These statements are certain. They are empirically verifiable. But these “binary” statements—where before a time t, it was the case that A, and after t, it was instead the case that B—are not what is interesting and meaningful.

What is interesting and meaningful are ideas like how I came to choose my own repertoire—how I attended summer piano programs, where I felt inspired by other pianists; how, in 10th grade, I spent hours clicking on YouTube recommendations, listening to more music than ever before; how I came to love the Chopin Fantaisie and Beethoven’s Les Adieux Sonata; how enormous the gap between these pieces and what I’d played before seems, in retrospect.

And these statements do not create easy binaries. At some point during 9th grade, I did not often listen to music. At some point during 10th grade, I did often listen to music. There was a process, an arc, an evolution. My job didn’t shift from interesting to boring instantaneously; rather, things bubbled in the background—dissatisfaction with certain tasks, annoyance at certain people. The factors that led to Trump’s second term as U.S. President didn’t suddenly appear; they stacked on one another over time; they interacted with each other. Nothing here happens at the flip of a switch.

(Rome wasn’t built in a day, was it?)

Start starts with a fricative, followed by a stop. Say it to yourself. Start. Hear that it implies the exact sort of binary I describe above. It is sharp. Direct. Monosyllabic. Percussive.

Begin—begin is a different flavor of word. Begin starts softer, and it crescendos; it has two syllables. Say it to yourself, begin, and hear that it implies a process, a growth of sorts. It is rounder, smoother, slower.

Form should match content. So I don’t mind statements like the hour started 11 minutes ago (as of writing this.) They’re true and they imply a correct binary (the time read 8:xx and now reads 9:xx), so start is the correct word.

I don’t like statements like I started wanting to quit my job summer 2024. This statement implies a false binary. An irritation here; a bad work call there; an upsetting interaction with a superior; a conversation with a friend; a stint as a camp counselor that made me rethink my life; an online course on epidemiology—how can I recall, sort, and weight all the factors involved? There’s no binary here at all; though I may have woken up one day wanting out, it happened as a result of everything brewing in the background, brewing for weeks, months, or perhaps even longer. Begin, its tempo and shape, is well-suited for the sentence. I began wanting to quit my job summer 2024.

And indeed: the aforementioned factors in my decision to quit my job are precisely what is interesting and meaningful about that decision. Binaries are rarely so. They are too clear-cut, too obvious; they make for bad conversation. That’s why I think begin is (almost always!) a better word than start.

Form should match content, and reality, in terms of content, is far more complex and interwoven with itself than start gives it credit for.

(I have no such opinions about the words end or finish. Use whichever one you please. But to be clear: though I could say I began writing this essay yesterday, these thoughts—insane as they are—have been marinating for a long, long time.)

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Thanks to CJ for providing linguistic consulting for this blog post, and for disagreeing with me about the entire premise. Thanks to Janet for helpful suggestions.