Who Coined the Term ‘Entrepreneur?’

What Is an Entrepreneur?

The term “entrepreneur” was coined by the French economic philosopher Jean-Baptiste Say in the early 1800s. An entrepreneur is an individual who creates a new business, bearing most of the risks and enjoying most of the rewards. The entrepreneur is commonly seen as an innovator, a source of new ideas, goods, services, and business or procedures.

Entrepreneurs play a key role in any capitalist economy, using the skills and initiative necessary to anticipate needs and bring good new ideas to market. Entrepreneurs who prove to be successful in taking on the risks of a startup are rewarded with profits and continued growth opportunities. Those who fail face financial losses and may exit the market.

Key Takeaways

• Economic philosopher Jean-Baptiste Say coined the word entrepreneur, which comes from French and means “undertaker”—i.e., one who undertakes a new venture.
• Entrepreneurs are vital to capitalist economies. They take on large degrees of risk to innovate and launch new companies.
• While economic thinkers have long known that business owners (aka “capitalists”) are vital to economic growth and wealth creation, the word “entrepreneur” only appeared in the 1800s.

Who Coined It?

Even though he was the first to describe capitalist production and business owners’ profit motives in detail, it wasn’t Adam Smith who coined the term “entrepreneur.” One type of person strangely overlooked in Smith’s free-market masterpiece, “The Wealth of Nations,” is the entrepreneur. This is because the term was actually coined afterward by an admirer of Adam Smith’s book, economist Jean-Baptiste Say.

Entrepreneur is a French word probably coined by Say, taken from the word entreprendre, and usually translated as “undertaker” or “adventurer.” Say studied Smith’s book and, while agreeing on all points, found that the omission of enterprising businessmen was a serious flaw.

However, economists have never consistently defined “entrepreneur” or “entrepreneurship.” Though the concept of an entrepreneur has existed and was known for centuries, the classical and neoclassical economists interestingly left entrepreneurs out of their formal models of the economy: They assumed that perfect information would be known to fully rational actors, leaving no room for risk-taking or discovery. It wasn’t until the middle of the 20th century that economists seriously attempted to incorporate entrepreneurship into their models.

Three thinkers were central to the inclusion of entrepreneurs in later iterations of economics: Joseph Schumpeter, Frank Knight, and Israel Kirzner. Schumpeter suggested that entrepreneurs—not just companies—were responsible for the creation of new things in the search for profit. Knight focused on entrepreneurs as the bearers of uncertainty and believed they were responsible for risk premiums in financial markets. Kirzner thought of entrepreneurship as a process that led to discovery.

Say’s View on Entrepreneurship

In his writings, Jean-Baptiste Say pointed out that entrepreneurs sought out inefficient uses of resources and capital, redirecting them into more productive, higher-yield areas. According to Say, entrepreneurs seek profit and, by doing so, create new markets and fresh opportunities. By constantly disrupting the balance of competition, entrepreneurs prevent monopolies from forming and create a wide diversity of products that keep consumers consuming and producers producing.

In return for taking these risks, successful entrepreneurs like Bill Gates and Henry Ford reap fortunes far beyond those of normal economic agents.

Say put the focus on entrepreneurs because he was one. As a cotton manufacturer, he saw how an entrepreneur must be able to recognize opportunities and manage them effectively. Say’s “A Treatise on Political Economy, or the Production, Distribution, and Consumption of Wealth” captured the imagination of many people. Thomas Jefferson read the English translation and tried to convince Say to teach in his new nation.

Although Say never stepped foot on U.S. soil, his entrepreneurial outlook found a home in America anyway. Combining Adam Smith’s free-market principles and Say’s entrepreneurial call to arms, the U.S. wholeheartedly entered the industrial revolution and emerged with one of the strongest economies in the world.

Who First Used the Term “Entrepreneur”?

The term “entrepreneur” was most likely first coined by the economist Jean-Baptiste Say, taken from the word entreprendre, and translated as “undertaker” or “adventurer.”

Who Is The World’s First-Known Entrepreneur?

Ancient traders and merchants around 17,000 B.C.E. were considered the world’s first entrepreneurs when locals exchanged obsidian for essential goods. Some people also consider Marco Polo, who helped establish trade routes between Europe and Asia in the 13th century, to be the world’s first global entrepreneur.

Who is Considered the Father of Entrepreneurship?

Economist Joseph Schumpeter is often called the father of entrepreneurship due to his concept of “creative destruction,” which describes the process of new innovations replacing existing ones. This process is crucial to economic growth, accounting for more than 50% of productivity gains in our economy.

The Bottom Line

The term “entrepreneur” was coined in the early 1800s by French economic philosopher Jean-Baptiste Say. His recognition of entrepreneurs laid the foundation for modern views on innovation and economic growth, highlighting their essential role in creating new opportunities and disrupting competition. Later on, economists like Joseph Schumpeter expanded on this concept. Together, their insights continue to shape our understanding of how entrepreneurs drive progress and power the economy.