Meaning

noun someone new to a field or activity

noun someone who has been admitted to membership in a scholarly field

noun people who have been introduced to the mysteries of some field or activity

originBorrowed from Latin initiātus, perfect passive participle of initiō (“to begin, originate”) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix)), from initium (“a beginning”) + -ō (verb-forming suffix), from initus (“an entrance, coming in, approach”) + -ium, from ineō + -tus, from in- + eō (“to go”). Cognate with French initier.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0