adventurer

English

Etymology

Etymology tree

English adventure

Proto-Indo-European *-yósder.

Proto-Italic *-āzios

Latin -āriusnom.

Latin -āriusbor.

Proto-Germanic *-ārijaz

Proto-West Germanic *-ārī

Old English -ere

Middle English -ere

English -er

English adventurer

From adventure + -er.

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /ædˈvɛn.t͡ʃɚ.ɚ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

adventurer (plural adventurers)

1. One who enjoys adventures.
   • 2013 January, Nancy Langston, “The Fraught History of a Watery World”, in American Scientist‎^[1], volume 101, number 1, archived from the original on 22 January 2013, page 59:

     European adventurers found themselves within a watery world, a tapestry of streams, channels, wetlands, lakes and lush riparian meadows enriched by floodwaters from the Mississippi River.

2. A person who seeks a fortune in new and possibly dangerous enterprises.
3. A soldier of fortune, a speculator.
4. A person who tries to advance their social position by somewhat devious means.
5. (video games) A player of adventure games or text adventures.
   • 1983 July, PC Mag, volume 2, number 2, page 351:

     Meanwhile, the ranks of adventurers grow, be they manic puzzle-solvers or people like me, who like to look under the Robners' beds just for the hell of it.

   • 1992, Tim Kemp, Microfair Madness (game review in Your Sinclair issue 75, March 1992)

     It's a challenging game for the inexperienced adventurer, and should even give the hardened pros a bit of a run for their money.

Synonyms

• (one who enjoys adventures): man of action
• (soldier of fortune): see Thesaurus:mercenary

Derived terms

• adventureress
• adventurership
• coadventurer

Related terms

• adventuress

Translations

one who enjoys adventures

• Arabic: مُغَامِر m (muḡāmir), مُغَامِرَة f (muḡāmira), مُخاطِر m (muḵāṭir), مُخاطِرَة f (muḵāṭira)
• Azerbaijani: avantürist, macəraçı
• Basque: abenturazale
• Belarusian: авантуры́ст m (avanturýst), авантуры́стка f (avanturýstka), аванту́рнiк m (avantúrnik), аванту́рнiца f (avantúrnica)
• Bulgarian: авантюри́ст (bg) m (avantjuríst), авантюри́стка (bg) f (avantjurístka)
• Catalan: aventurer m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 冒險者 / 冒险者 (zh) (màoxiǎnzhě)

• Czech: dobrodruh (cs) m
• Dutch: avonturier (nl) m
• Esperanto: aventuristo
• Finnish: seikkailija (fi)
• French: aventurier (fr) m, aventurière (fr) f
• Galician: aventureiro m
• German: Abenteurer (de) m, Abenteurerin (de) f
• Greek: τυχοδιώκτης (el) m (tychodióktis), τυχοδιώκτρια (el) f (tychodióktria)
• Hebrew: הַרְפַּתְקָן (he) m (harpatkán), הרפתקנית f (harpatkanít)
• Hungarian: kalandor (hu), felfedező (hu)
• Indonesian: petualang (id)
• Italian: avventuriero (it) m, venturiero m
• Japanese: 冒険家 (ja) (ぼうけんか, bōkenka)
• Korean: 모험가(冒險家) (ko) (moheomga)
• Māori: kaikapua, kaewa, kiri māia, mātātoa
• Persian:

  Iranian Persian: ماجَراجو (mâjarâju), هَنْگامِه‌طَلَب (hangâme-talab)

• Polish: awanturnik (pl) m, awanturnica (pl) f
• Portuguese: aventureiro (pt) m
• Russian: авантюри́ст (ru) m (avantjuríst), авантюри́стка (ru) f (avantjurístka) (now means an unscrupulous person), иска́тель приключе́ний m (iskátelʹ priključénij), иска́тельница приключе́ний f (iskátelʹnica priključénij)
• Sicilian: vintureri m
• Slovak: dobrodruh m
• Spanish: aventurero (es) m, aventurera f
• Swedish: äventyrare (sv) c
• Tajik: моҷароҷӯ (mojarojü), ҳангоматалаб (hangomatalab)
• Thai: นักผจญภัย
• Turkish: maceraperest (tr), maceracı (tr)
• Ukrainian: авантюри́ст (uk) m (avantjurýst), авантюри́стка (uk) f (avantjurýstka), шука́ч приго́д m (šukáč pryhód), шука́чка приго́д f (šukáčka pryhód)
• Volapük: (♂♀) ventüran (vo), (♂) hiventüran, (♀) jiventüran
• Yiddish: אַוואַנטוריסט m (avanturist), אַוואַנטוריסטקע f (avanturistke)

social pretender on the lookout for advancement

• German: Thronbewerber m, Thronbewerberin f
• Greek: τυχοδιώκτης (el) m (tychodióktis)
• Hungarian: kalandor (hu)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Albanian: ^{(please verify)} aventurier (sq)

Further reading

• “adventurer”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin Eli Smith, editors (1895–1910), “adventurer”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.