The word 'venue' entered English in the late 16th century from the Anglo-French legal phrase 'venue', a feminine past participle of 'venir' meaning 'to come'. This, in turn, derives from the Latin verb 'venire', meaning 'to come'. The original legal sense was 'a coming to court', specifically referring to the district from which a jury was summoned. Over time, the meaning broadened from the specific legal context of 'the place where a trial is held' to the more general modern sense of 'the place where any event is held'. This evolution illustrates a common pattern where a specialized legal term expands into everyday usage.

The word 'venue' is a simplex loanword from Anglo-French. It is not productively segmented into smaller, meaningful morphemes in modern English based on its current spelling.