Editor's Blog6 mins ago
French or not?
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On Radio 4 tonight they were interviewing two different French men who both pronounced the word 'entrepreneurs' as 'En trepreneurs' (as in envy), as opposed to 'On trepreneurs' - now I believe George Dubbaya once said "the French have no word for entrepreneur" but I thought we pronounced it like that because the French do! The English speaking presented pronounced it 'Ontrepreneurs' - so which is right?
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For more on marking an answer as the "Best Answer", please visit our FAQ.Entreprenuer is a loanword from French. It comes from the words "Entre" meaning "in between" and "preneur" meaning "jobs".
If they were speaking in English, it is likely that they were pronouncing it how they believe we would. However, seeing that they would normally pronounce 'entre' as 'on-tray' I would guess that to our ears, the presenter is right.
If they were speaking in English, it is likely that they were pronouncing it how they believe we would. However, seeing that they would normally pronounce 'entre' as 'on-tray' I would guess that to our ears, the presenter is right.
I'm not sure where Octavius gets his/her information from but it's wrong! "Entre" is pronounced to rhyme with "the" not like "tray". "preneur" comes from the verb "prendre" meaning to take so it means a person who takes, nothing to do with jobs.
The French word "entrepreneur" originally meant a person who undertakes something. In its current usage, it is first recorded in English in 1828.
The French word "entrepreneur" originally meant a person who undertakes something. In its current usage, it is first recorded in English in 1828.