When the term opportunity was first introduced into the English language in 1387, it was spelled oportunite, with other variations at that time including oportunyte, oportewnyte, oportunyty, oppertunitie, and more. This noun was borrowed from Old French, where it also appeared as oportunite. The word was borrowed in the thirteenth century from Latin opportunitas, which meant “fitness” or “convenience”. Opportunitas was derived from the adjective opportunas (“fit” or “favorable”), originating from the phrase ob portum veniens, meaning “coming toward a port”. The concept behind this was that a wind blowing towards a harbor was favorable or convenient for ships trying to reach the shore. The prefix ob- can be found in words like obscene, oppress, and obstruct, coming from Proto-Indo-European opi, meaning “against”. Lastly, portus, the nominative form of portum, derived from PIE prtu and veniens can be traced back to PIE gwa, meaning “to go”.
