adjective
- beginning to exist or appear; in an initial stage: an incipient cold.
adjective
- just starting to be or happen; beginning
1660s, from Latin incipientem (nominative incipiens), present participle of incipere “begin, take up,” from in- “into, in, on, upon” (see in- (2)) + -cipere, comb. form of capere “to take” (see capable).