venture English · revision 6705

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=clipping|attested=before 1400|origins=la advenio}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ˈvɛn.t͡ʃə/ ''(UK)''; /ˈvɛn.t͡ʃɚ/ ''(US)''^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is a shortened form of Middle English aventure (see [[adventure]]),^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986)^(MWU 2024) partly because the a- was taken for the indefinite article, “a venture”;^(Hoad 1986)^(SOED 2002) Etymonline also cites [[xno|venture]].^(Etymonline) The verb is likewise shortened from aventuren.^(Barnhart 1988)^(Hoad 1986)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Fortune, luck or chance: probably before 1400, in the ''Morte Arthur'';^(Barnhart 1988) about 1400 in Etymonline, before 1450 in the OED.^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ ''At a venture'', at random, is from 1509.^(OED 1989)^(Hoad 1986) Risk or peril is by the mid-15th century,^(Etymonline) and a risky undertaking from before 1566.^(Barnhart 1988)^(OED 1989) A business enterprise of a speculative kind is from the 1580s,^(Etymonline) and ''venture capital'' is by 1943.^(Etymonline) The verb, to risk the loss of something, is from about 1430 in Barnhart and about 1500 in Etymonline,^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline) and the general sense, to dare or presume, from the 1550s.^(Etymonline) Heywood's ''Proverbs'' (1546) has ''nought venter nought have''.^(Etymonline) In Yorkshire dialect venture meant to expect or suppose.^(Wright 1898)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * before 1400 – fortune, chance.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * c. 1430 – to risk.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1509 – at a venture.^(OED 1989)

+ * before 1566 – a risky undertaking.^(Barnhart 1988)^(OED 1989)

+ * 1580s – a business enterprise.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1943 – venture capital.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A risky or daring undertaking.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # A business [[enterprise]] involving risk in the hope of profit.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # Something, such as money, put at risk in an enterprise.^(AHD)

+

+ ===Verb===

+ # To expose to danger or loss; to [[risk]].^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # To dare to go somewhere or do something: ''venture outside''.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # To put forward an opinion at the risk of criticism.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[venturer]]

+ * [[venture capital]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[venturesome]]

+ * [[venturous]]

+ * [[adventure]]

+ * [[advent]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}