venison (English)
Where does "venison" come from?
The word 'venison' traces back to the Latin 'vēnātiō,' meaning 'a hunt' or 'meat from a hunt,' which was derived from the verb 'vēnor,' meaning 'to hunt.' It passed through Anglo-Norman as 'veneisun' before entering Middle English. Over time, the term shifted from broadly referring to any hunted game to its modern, specific focus on the meat of a deer.
Full etymology tree
- venison (English), 'The meat of a deer, especially one that was hunted in its own natural habitat.'
- inherited venisoun (Middle English), 'One's quarry or prey; the animal that one is hunting, especially deer.'
- borrowed venesun (Anglo-Norman)
- inherited vēnātiō (Latin), 'hunting, the chase, venery'
- derived vēnor (Latin), 'to chase, hunt, pursue game/quarry'
- inherited *weyh₁- (Proto-Indo-European), 'to chase, pursue'
- inherited *wenh₁- (Proto-Indo-European), 'to love'
- suffix -tiō (Latin), '-tion, -ation, -ing; suffixed to verbs to form action nouns denoting a process, action, or result of an action.'
- derived vēnor (Latin), 'to chase, hunt, pursue game/quarry'
- inherited vēnātiō (Latin), 'hunting, the chase, venery'
- borrowed venesun (Anglo-Norman)
- inherited venisoun (Middle English), 'One's quarry or prey; the animal that one is hunting, especially deer.'
Direct ancestors
Updated July 2026
Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris