Revenue

How to spell revenue

7 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce revenue

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does revenue mean?

1. nounThe total income received by a government, business, or organisation, especially from taxes, sales, or services.

Revenue in a sentence

• The company reported a sharp drop in revenue after the factory closed.

• Ticket sales make up most of the festival's annual revenue.

Where does revenue come from?

Language of origin: French

Revenue came into English in the late 1400s from Old French, where revenu was the past participle of the verb revenir, meaning 'to return' or 'to come back'. That French verb descends from the Latin revenire, formed from re- meaning 'back' and venire meaning 'to come', so the literal idea is money that 'comes back' to its owner. The earliest English uses described yearly income or the return on property and lands, and only later did it settle into the modern sense of money flowing into a government, business, or household. The same venire root for 'coming' lives on in a whole family of English words including 'convene', 'intervene', 'avenue' (a way of approach), and 'venue' (the place people come to). Knowing the parts re-ven-ue helps with the spelling: the ending is -enue, echoing 'avenue' and 'venue', and the word keeps just a single v.

How the word is built

• re- (back)
• ven (come, from Latin venire)
• -ue (noun ending via French)