The term 'venturi' is an eponym, a word derived from a person's name. It entered the English language in the late 19th century to describe the specific fluid dynamic principle and the physical device invented by Giovanni Battista Venturi. His research demonstrated that a fluid's pressure decreases as its velocity increases when passing through a constricted section of pipe. This direct adoption from a surname into a technical noun exemplifies how scientific discoveries become lexicalized, with the inventor's name forever attached to the apparatus that embodies the principle.

The word is a proper noun adopted into the common lexicon. It originates from the surname of the Italian physicist Giovanni Battista Venturi (1746–1822), who studied fluid flow in constricted tubes.