What does begged mean?
Begged is the past tense of the verb beg, meaning to ask for something with urgent, earnest, or desperate appeal. People who have begged have typically done so out of necessity — pleading for mercy, money, forgiveness, another chance, or simply for someone to stay or listen. The word carries strong emotional weight: to say someone begged implies humility, desperation, or both, which distinguishes it from milder terms like 'asked' or even 'pleaded.' It appears in contexts ranging from charity and hardship ('they begged for food') to high drama ('the prisoner begged for his life'). The verb also survives in idioms such as 'I beg your pardon' and 'I beg to differ,' where it signals polite but firm disagreement. Notably, the phrase 'begs the question' has two competing senses: its original logical meaning of assuming what one sets out to prove, and the modern colloquial sense of prompting an obvious question. This tension makes begged a small but linguistically rich part of everyday English.
verbPast tense of the verb 'beg': to ask someone earnestly or desperately for something, especially money, help, or forgiveness.
- To have asked someone earnestly or desperately for something, such as money, food, help, or forgiveness.
- To have pleaded urgently with someone to do or not do something.
- (Of a statement) To have presupposed an answer, thereby avoiding the issue at hand — as in 'that begs the question' in its original logical sense.
"She begged the judge for one more chance to explain herself."
"He begged his creditors for more time to repay the loan."
""Please don't go," she begged, her voice breaking."
The phrase "begs the question" is famously misused — it originally described a circular-argument fallacy in logic, not a question that demands asking.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of begged
Begged is the past-tense form of 'beg,' a verb that emerged in Middle English, first attested around the thirteenth century, likely from the Old English 'bedecian,' meaning to beg or pray. Its deeper Germanic origins are debated, but it is generally connected to the same root that gave us 'bid' and related words for requesting across Germanic languages. The noun 'beggar' arose shortly after the verb itself, cementing the word's association with poverty and supplication.
Related word forms
How begged is actually used
'Begged' carries connotations of desperation, humility, or urgency, so it is rarely neutral in register — using it signals strong emotion. In informal American English, 'I'm begging you' is often used hyperbolically for emphasis without genuine desperation. The traditional idiom 'to beg the question' means to commit a logical fallacy by assuming the conclusion, though it is now commonly (and controversially) used to mean 'to raise the question.'
Easily confused with begged
'Bagged' means placed into a bag or caught/killed as game, while 'begged' means asked earnestly for something.
'Pegged' means fastened with a peg or identified/categorized, whereas 'begged' means pleaded urgently for something.