Aunter

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. An archaic term for a daring adventure or a risky venture undertaken with uncertain outcome
2. An old-fashioned word meaning a bold exploit, or an enterprise that carries danger and chance
3. A rare, obsolete noun for an adventurous undertaking whose result is uncertain and perilous

Etymology: "Aunter" is an older English form of "adventure," and it shows how the same French word could be pronounced in more than one way. In Middle English, writers used "aunter" and "auntre" for a chance event, a risky undertaking, or a daring exploit, drawn from Old French "aventure." That French word came from Latin "adventura," meaning "something about to arrive," from "advenire," "to arrive." The form is more than a spelling variant. Its shortened, stressed-on-the-first-syllable shape reflects how the French word was spoken and reshaped in English, and it appears in the romances and poems of the period, where it carries the sense of a quest or trial as much as a happening. Over time "adventure" won out in standard English, and "aunter" dropped out of common use, though its meaning survives in the longer word.