Pronunciation: [in-'ko-êt ('in-kê-wêt British)] Listen

Definition: Incipient, in an initial, incomplete, imperfect state.

Usage: The verb is also inchoate [in-'ko-weyt] "to begin" and the action of beginning is "inchoation." Another adjective, "inchoative," refers mostly to a verb form of certain languages which indicates the beginning of an action, such as Russian zarabotat' "begin working, start (engine)" from za- (inchoative) + rabotat' "work."

Suggested Usage: Walter Lippmann liked to write about the "inchoate mass" (us), "In really hard times the rules of the game are altered. The inchoate mass begins to stir. It becomes potent, and when it strikes... it strikes with incredible emphasis" (New York Herald Tribune, December 8, 1931). Today's word offers a way to spice up that common phrase, "I haven't any idea:" "I haven't an inchoate idea of what to do with three bushels of kumquats." That means, you haven't even a the beginning of an inkling.

Etymology: Latin inchoatus, past participle of inchoare "to begin," alteration of incohare based on in- "in" + cohum "strap connecting a yoke to the harness." The English words "haw" in the sense of a space enclosed, originally by hedges, comes from the same source. Indeed, "hedge" is derived from an earlier "hag" that goes back to the origin of the coh- in Latin "cohum," as does Dutch haag "hedge," found in the name of that wonderful city, Den Haag "The Hague."