beget[bē get′, bi-]
- To beget is defined as to create children or to cause something to happen.
- An example of beget is when a woman conceives and gives birth to a baby.
- An example of beget is when violence causes more violence.
transitive verbbe·got , be·got·ten or be·got, be·get·ting, be·gets
- To produce (offspring) by sexual reproduction. Used especially of a man.
- To cause to exist or occur; produce: Violence begets more violence.
Origin of begetMiddle English biyeten, bigeten, from Old English begetan; see ghend- in Indo-European roots.
(third-person singular simple present begets, present participle begetting, simple past begot or begat, past participle begotten)
From Middle English begeten, biȝeten, from Old English beġietan (“to get, find, acquire, attain, receive, take, seize, happen, beget”), from Proto-Germanic *bigetaną (“to find, seize”), equivalent to be- + get. Cognate with Old Saxon bigitan (“to find, seize”), Old High German bigezan (“to gain, achieve, win, procure”) (German begatten (“to mate, copulate, beget”)).