Etymologically
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risk

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 15 October 2026 at 19:39. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /rɪsk/[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French risque (“hazard, danger”),[2][3][4] from Italian risco, also rischio,[2][4][5] from riscare (“to run into danger”), also rischiare,[2][6][7] a word of uncertain origin.[2][3][6] Klein derives it from Vulgar Latin *risicāre and suggests Greek ῥίζα (rhíza, “root”) in the sense “cliff”.[8] Spanish riesgo and German Risiko are Italian loans.[2] The verb is from the noun, or from French risquer.[2][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Hazard, danger: 1661, as risque,[9][3] or the 1660s.[2] Merriam-Webster dates the noun to 1655.[10]

Semantic evolution

To run a risk is from 1665[9] or the 1660s.[2] The commercial sense, the hazard of loss of a ship or goods, is by 1719, hence the chance taken in a business venture.[2][9] The anglicized spelling risk is by 1728[2] or 1741,[3] but risque was used alongside it until the late 1800s.[3] The verb, “to expose to the chance of injury or loss”, is from before 1687,[3][9] and “to venture upon” from 1705.[2][9] At risk is from 1901,[9] risk factor from 1906, risk aversion from 1942 and risk management from 1963.[2] A person who is a danger or liability is a risk from 1948.[9] Risky is from 1826–27, in Fenimore Cooper.[3]

Timeline

  • 1661 – hazard, danger.[9][3]
  • 1665 – run a risk.[9]
  • before 1687 – verb, to endanger.[9]
  • 1705 – to venture upon.[9]
  • 1719 – commercial risk.[2]
  • 1728 – the spelling risk.[2]
  • 1826 – risky.[3]
  • 1901 – at risk.[9]
  • 1948 – a person as a risk.[9]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. The possibility of loss, injury or harm; danger.
  2. A person or thing that is a source of danger, or a danger to others.
  3. The chance of loss covered by insurance, or the person or thing insured.

Verb

  1. To expose to the chance of loss or damage.
  2. To take the chance of: to risk a fall.

Word family

  • risker
  • riskless
  • risktaker
  • high-risk
  • unrisked
  • assigned risk
  • credit risk
  • risk factor
  • risky
  • risqué

References

  1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  4. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  5. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  8. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  10. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster