debut

Borrowed from French début, from Middle French, a derivative of débuter ("to begin"), formed from dé- plus but ("mark, goal"). That but goes back through Old French butte ("mound, knoll, target") to a Frankish or Old Norse word for a stump or log, both rooted in Proto-Germanic *butą ("end, piece").

The word grew from a concrete image of hitting a target or starting point into the abstract French verb débuter, meaning simply "to begin," before English borrowed the noun début for a first public appearance.

It shares a root with English "butt," since both trace back to a Germanic word for a stump or log — and to Old English butt, meaning tree stump.