English

Alternative forms

• debut
• débute (verb only)

Noun

début ‎(plural débuts)

1. (chiefly of public perfomers)^[1] A person’s or thing’s first appearance before society or another audience; one’s “maiden voyage”.^[1]

Translations

Verb

début ‎(third-person singular simple present débuts, present participle débuting, simple past and past participle débuted)

1. To make one's début.^[1]

Usage notes

• (applicable to all senses) On first reading by a person unfamiliar with this term, debut may be mispronounced [dɪˈbʌt] (cf. rebut) if it is written without the disambiguating acute accent.

Related terms

• débutant (masculine agent noun)
• débutante (feminine agent noun)

Translations

References

1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 “début, n.” listed in the Oxford English Dictionary [2^nd Ed.; 1989]
2. ↑ A Dictionary of Modern English Usage by H. W. Fowler (1926; Oxford at the Clarendon Press; London: Humphrey Milford), page 104; début, débutant(e). Début can only be pronounced as French […]

• The Oxford English Dictionary defines début but does not list debut.

Anagrams

• tubed

French

Etymology

From Middle French, derivative of desbuter ‎(“to move, begin”), from des- + but ‎(“mark, goal”), from Old French but ‎(“aim, goal, end, target”), either from Old French butte ‎(“mound, knoll, target”), from Frankish *but ‎(“stump, log”), or from Old Norse bútr ‎(“log, stump, butt”); both from Proto-Germanic *butą ‎(“end, piece”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰewd- ‎(“to beat, push”).^[1] Cognate with Old English butt ‎(“tree stump”). More at English butt.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /de.by/

Noun

début m ‎(plural débuts)

1. start, beginning

Derived terms

• débutant
• débutante
• débuter
• faire ses débuts

References

1. ↑ Friedrich Kluge, “Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache” , 22. Auflage, 1989, bearbeitet von Elmar Seebold, ISBN 3-11-006800-1