Venture

How to spell venture

7 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce venture

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does venture mean?

1. nounA risky or daring undertaking, especially a new business enterprise.
2. verbTo dare to go somewhere or to risk saying or doing something.

Venture in a sentence

• noun

  The two friends pooled their savings to launch a coffee venture.

• verb

  Few hikers venture beyond the marked trail in winter.

• noun

  Investors were cautious about backing such an untested venture.

• verb

  She did not venture an opinion until everyone else had spoken.

Where does venture come from?

Language of origin: Latin

Venture began life as a clipped form of 'adventure', which English took from Old French aventure and ultimately from the Latin adventura, meaning 'things that are about to happen'. That noun grew from advenire, 'to arrive' or 'to come to', built from ad- 'to' and venire 'to come', so at heart the word is about something coming toward you, namely whatever fate or chance delivers. By the 1400s English speakers had worn 'adventure' down to 'venture', and the sense narrowed toward a risky undertaking, especially a commercial one staked on uncertain returns. The same venire root surfaces in a whole family of everyday words such as 'event', 'invent', 'convene' and 'avenue', all carrying a buried idea of coming or arriving. The spelling trap is the soft -ture ending, pronounced 'cher', which tempts writers toward forms like 'venchure' or 'ventcher' even though the t and silent-looking u stay put.

How the word is built

• vent- (from Latin venire: to come)
• -ure (noun/verb suffix); a shortened form of 'adventure'