initial

Meanings

Adjective

• Chronologically first, early; of or pertaining to the beginning, cause or origin.
• Spatially first, placed at the beginning, in the first position; especially said of the first letter of a word.

Noun

• The first letter of a word or a name.
• In plural, the first letter of each word of a person's full name considered as a unit.
• A distinguished initial letter of a chapter or section of a document.
• onset, part of a syllable that precedes the syllable nucleus in phonetics and phonology.

Verb

• To sign one's initial(s), as an abbreviated signature.

Related

Similar words

• incipient
• opening
• drop cap, versal

Opposite words

• final

Origin

• From Middle French initial or straightway from its Latin etymon initiālis, from initium, from inire, from in + ire.