Venmo

See also: venmo

English

Etymology

After the Venmo mobile payment system. According to co-founder Andrew Kortina, the name was formed as a blend of Latin vēndere (“to sell”) +‎ mobile, for the following reasons:

We were exploring the Latin root vendere “sell” and mo for mobile, but purely as a means to get to a name that (1) was short, 5-6 letters, (2) could be a verb, (3) didn’t have a unintuitive spelling, and (4) was cheap. Venmo was available on GoDaddy and met the important criteria, so we grabbed it.

Noun

Venmo (plural Venmos)

1. (informal) An account on the Venmo peer-to-peer mobile payment system.
   • 2022, Aimée Lutkin, “What Is Dating?”, in The Lonely Hunter: How Our Search for Love Is Broken: A Memoir, New York, N.Y.: The Dial Press, →ISBN, part 1, page 94:

     It was part of a larger trend of monetizing the demand for unpaid emotional labor that became bigger and bigger after the 2016 election. At first, posting a Venmo or CashApp “for emotional labor” was something I noticed activists doing, usually Black women who were being asked to donate their time and expertise for free to the public, and even to private institutions with the budget to pay them.

   • 2023, Abby Jimenez, Yours Truly‎^[2], London: Piatkus, Little, Brown Book Group, →ISBN:

     His vest had a Kevin Bacon hashtag and a Venmo on it. “I have to give it to Doug, he is a hustler,” Briana said, eyeing the Venmo. “Doug would punch me in the face for a billion dollars.”

   • 2023, Greggor Mattson, “#SaveTheGayBars from Another Pandemic: Troupe429 ■ Norwalk, Connecticut”, in Who Needs Gay Bars? Bar-Hopping through America’s Endangered LGBTQ+ Places, Stanford, Calif.: Redwood Press, →ISBN:

     Where many bars published their staff’s Venmos and Cash Apps so that patrons could show some financial appreciation while they were out of work, Troupe429 went further. […] Each “Troupetender” card featured a cute headshot, a QR code linked to the employee’s online cash account, and a recipe for a cocktail.

   • 2023, Rachel Anne Jones, “Chapter Seventeen: Nash”, in Ramblin’ Nash: A Day in the Life of a Flower Shop Boy, White Bear Lake, Minn.: Fire & Ice Young Adult Books, Melange Books, LLC, →ISBN:

     A Venmo pops up. Jesse Desmond. I thought that was his voice.

   • 2024, Maria Minnis, “The Lovers”, in Tarot for the Hard Work: An Archetypal Journey to Confront Racism and Inspire Collective Healing, Newburyport, Mass.: Weiser Books, →ISBN, section “Choosing to Redistribute Wealth”:

     Find PayPals, Venmos, or CashApps of BIPOC and randomly donate money as reparations.

   • 2024, Too Black, Rasul A. Mowatt, “Conclusion”, in Laundering Black Rage: The Washing of Black Death, People, Property, and Profits, New York, N.Y.; Abingdon, Oxfordshire: Routledge, →DOI, →ISBN:

     Remember that so many of us click on links to CashApps, Venmos, PayPals, etc. to donate to bail funds, Flint Water reliefs, the next Ferguson, and the like without any thought of integrating ourselves into collective action?

Verb

Venmo (third-person singular simple present Venmos, present participle Venmoing, simple past and past participle Venmoed)

1. (intransitive, informal) To use the Venmo peer-to-peer mobile payment system, originally principally for splitting bills such as for food, drinks, entertainment, and transportation.
   • 2013 August 5, Emma Roller, “The Spawn of Facebook and PayPal”, in Slate:

     Don’t want to bother splitting the brunch check five ways? Split it two ways instead, and three people will have some Venmoing to do.

   • 2016 August 2, Tonya Riley, “After a Breakup, I Turned to Venmo for Closure”, in Cosmopolitan.com:

     We had only Venmoed once or twice in our short relationship, but I knew it was an app he used frequently with his friends.

   • 2018 August 26, Louise Matsakis, “It's Time to Stop Sending Money on Venmo”, in Wired:

     Venmoing may be standard, but here’s why I’ve switched.

   • 2020, Kerstin Lindquist, Where’s My Crown for Acting Like Everything Is Fine?:

     She's the keeper of all the receipts and bills (and hopefully sees the benefit this will be if she's using a rewards credit card) and at the end of the trip she divides the total and everyone Venmos!

2. (ditransitive, informal) To transfer money to someone using the Venmo peer-to-peer mobile payment system.
   • 2020, John McMahon, The Evil Men Do, page 176:

     "Keeps to himself," he said, "Venmos the rent. Never calls to fix nothin'." In other words, a perfect tenant.

   • 2020 March 26, Nicholas Rice, “Ariana Grande Venmos Money to Fans in Financial Need amid Coronavirus Crisis”, in People.com:

     Ariana Grande is lending a hand to help her fans in need amid the current coronavirus pandemic.

   • 2023, Sonia Hartl, chapter 13, in Rent to Be: A Novel, Alcove Press, The Quick Brown Fox & Company LLC, →ISBN:

     Jillian had Venmoed me half my fee that morning.

   • 2024, Ronni Davis, This Night Is Ours‎^[3], New York, N.Y.: Little, Brown and Company, →ISBN:

     I know his occasional emails and the few times he Venmoed me money will never compare to what Mom does for me.

Alternative forms

• venmo

Translations

to use a peer-to-peer mobile payment system

• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: vippse

  Nynorsk: vipsa

• Spanish: bizumear
• Swedish: swisha (sv)

Further reading

• Venmo on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• venom