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aventureux

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Etymology and origin of the French word aventureux

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
1160 Benoît de Sainte-Maure More words from the 12th century
Ultimate origin
Latin adveniō
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
French aventure
Romanian aventură
French aventureux

Pronunciation

  • /a.vɑ̃.ty.ʁø/[1]

Forms

aventureux (feminine aventureuse, masculine plural aventureux, feminine plural aventureuses)[1] Old French aventuros, Middle French adventureux, avantureux.[2][3][1]

Etymology

It is formed from French aventure + -eux, first as Old French aventuros.[2][4][5][1] Wiktionary allows either that it is inherited from the Old French word or that it was formed anew in French.[1] Aventure comes from Vulgar Latin *adventūra (“things that are to happen”), the neuter plural of the future participle of adveniō (“to arrive, happen”), taken as a noun.[6][7]

Littré compares Old Occitan aventuros and Italian avventuroso.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

About 1160, in Benoît de Sainte-Maure, it described what happens by chance and turns out well or badly, the first sense of aventure.[4][8][2] The Grand Robert and the Petit Robert give an earlier date, 1123.[2][5]

Semantic evolution

By 1165 the adjective described a situation in which one is exposed to danger.[8][2] Applied to people, it took its modern sense of “fond of adventure, ready to take risks” from the context of the romances of chivalry, about 1330;[8][3] Littré quotes a 14th-century line in which a knight calls himself chevaliers aventureus.[8][3] As a noun (1450), aventureux stressed the taste for risk, and in the classical language it was a near-synonym of aventurier.[8][9]

In modern French it is used of people who love adventure, of a life full of adventures, and of a plan or policy that is full of risks.[5][9] The adverb aventureusement (about 1360), “by chance”, fell out of use and reappeared in 1611 and again in 1831.[8]

Timeline

  • 1160 – Benoît de Sainte-Maure uses aventuros of what happens well or badly.[4][8]
  • 1165 – It describes a situation exposed to danger.[8][2]
  • c. 1330 – Applied to people fond of adventure, in the romances of chivalry.[8]
  • c. 1360 – The adverb aventureusement is recorded.[8][5]
  • 1450 – First used as a noun, for a person who seeks risk.[8]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Fond of adventure, ready to take risks, daring: un voyageur aventureux.[5][3]
  2. Full of adventures: une jeunesse aventureuse.[5][9]
  3. Full of hazards, risky: une entreprise aventureuse.[5][4]
  4. (noun, rare) A person who seeks adventure; also one who goes astray.[9][4]

Word family

  • aventureusement

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  3. ^ a b c d e Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  4. ^ a b c d e Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  5. ^ a b c d e f g Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  6. ^ Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  7. ^ Dictionnaire du Moyen Français, version 2015 (DMF 2015), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/dmf
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  9. ^ a b c d Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
Cite this entry

“Aventureux.” Etymologically, 15 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/fr/aventureux. Accessed 15 Nov. 2026.

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