What does "entrepreneur" mean, and how do you say it?

"Entrepreneur" comes up everywhere, from business news to LinkedIn bios. It's also a bit of a tongue-twister, and plenty of native speakers still have to double-check the spelling. Let's go through what it means, how to say it, and how to use it.

What is an entrepreneur?

An entrepreneur is someone who starts their own business and takes on the financial risk that comes with it.

• My aunt is an entrepreneur. She runs three bakeries now.
• After college, she started a tutoring service and became a full-time entrepreneur.
• Elon Musk is a well-known entrepreneur who founded companies like Tesla and SpaceX.
• Lots of young entrepreneurs start out selling things on Instagram.

You'll also see a few related words:

• She's always had an entrepreneurial spirit.
• The university offers a course in entrepreneurship.

How to pronounce "entrepreneur"

The word comes from French, which explains the unusual spelling. In English, it's usually pronounced on-truh-pruh-NUR, with the stress on the last part. Saying it slowly in those four chunks makes it much easier.

The spelling catches people out too. A very common mistake is leaving out the first "r" and writing "entrepeneur." It helps to split it into three parts when you write it: entre, pre, neur. The ending "-eur" is the same as in "amateur."

Here are a few more examples to practice with:

• Being an entrepreneur means you're never really off work.
• The city wants to attract more tech entrepreneurs.
• He's a serial entrepreneur. This is his fourth company.

A "serial entrepreneur" is someone who keeps starting new businesses, one after another.

For those who enjoy learning through visual aids, check out Daily Dose of Denglisch Docs.