Meaning

noun the first letter of a word (especially a person's name)

verb mark with one's initials

adjective occurring at the beginning

originFrom Middle French initial or directly from its Latin etymon initiālis (“of the beginning, incipient, initial”), from initium (“a going in, entrance, beginning”), from inire (“to go in, enter upon, begin”), from in (“in”) + ire (“to go”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0