Venture Is Adventure With the Front Worn Off
A venture is a risky undertaking. The word is simply adventure with the first syllable lost, and the risk is the point.
A venture is an undertaking with risk attached, especially a commercial one. The word is *adventure* with its first syllable worn away, a process linguists call aphesis. The risk never left: *venture capital* funds businesses too uncertain for a bank, and the proverb *nothing ventured, nothing gained* is about exactly that trade.
- A risky undertaking. *A business venture.*
- To risk. *He ventured his savings.*
- To dare to go. *She ventured outside.*
- Venture capital — investment in early-stage companies. *Venture capital funding.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Noun | venture | A new venture. |
| Plural | ventures | Joint ventures. |
| Verb | venture | Venture an opinion. |
| Adjective | venturesome | A venturesome plan. |
| Related | adventure | A great adventure. |
How it is used in a sentence
- The joint venture failed within a year.Two companies sharing a project.
- He ventured a guess.Offered it tentatively.
- Nothing ventured, nothing gained.A proverb recorded since the fourteenth century.
Business venture terms
- Joint venture — a shared enterprise between separate companies
- Venture capital — equity investment in high-risk early businesses
- Seed round — the first significant funding
- Runway — how long the money lasts at the current spend
- Exit — a sale or flotation that returns money to investors
A shortened form of *adventure*, from Old French *aventure*, from Latin *adventura*, things about to happen, from *advenire*, to arrive.
Venture or adventure?
They are the same word. Venture kept the commercial risk; adventure kept the excitement.
What is venture capital?
Investment in young companies with high failure rates, in exchange for equity, on the expectation that a few large successes cover the losses.