Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “adventurer” come from?

Adventurer comes from Old French -er (agent noun suffix) added to Old French adventure, itself from Latin adventūra (things about to happen), derived from Latin ad- (to) and venīre (to come).

adventurer (English): One who enjoys adventures; A person who seeks a...

Definitions

  1. One who enjoys adventures; A person who seeks a...

Ancestry of “adventurer”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1EnglishadventureThe encountering of risks; a bold undertaking, in...
2Middle Englishaventurefate, chance; event, experience; danger, risk
3Old Frenchaventure—
4Vulgar Latinadventura—
5Late Latinadventurusadventure; about to arrive; an adventure
6Latinadventusarrival, approach, advent; Advent
7Latinadveniō—
8Latinad-to; usually prefixed to verbs, in which cases it...
9Latinīn-—
10Latinîn—
11Latinenlookǃ beholdǃ; reallyǃ?; come onǃ
12Proto-Italicenin
13Proto-Indo-Europeanh₁énin

Words derived from “adventurer”

  • coadventurer
Every word from Proto-Indo-European h₁én →