Epidemiology

The seventh entry is le risque relatif, and the noun in it is safe enough: it means what « risk » means, and an epidemiologist uses the two words the same way. The verb behind it has drifted, and it has drifted far enough to change what a sentence says. Risquer de followed by an infinitive warns nobody in French. It states a likelihood and nothing more — ce chiffre risque de baisser says the figure will probably fall, ça risque de prendre du temps says it will probably take a while, and neither carries the faintest suggestion of danger. In speech the construction will even take a welcome outcome, ça risque d’être intéressant, said of something one is looking forward to. The negative is the form to learn first, because it is a flat denial and not a reassurance: il ne risque pas de pleuvoir means there is no chance of rain at all. « To risk » does none of this. An English sentence has to reach for « likely to », « may well » or « there is no chance that », and a translator who keeps the verb turns a plain forecast into a warning.