Inventory

The noun inventory, meaning 'a detailed list [of possessions]', does not share the stress of the verb 'to invent', although they share an etymology.

• The verb 'to invent', like the associated nouns inventor, inventiveness and invention, has the stress on the second syllable, 'in-VENT' (IPA: /ɪn ˈvɛnt/).
• The noun 'an inventory', in RP, has the stress on the first syllable, with a barely perceptible vowel in the third: 'IN-vent-'r-y', /ˈɪn vɛnt ^ə rɪ/. LPD 2000 records an alternative pronunciation like that of 'invent', 'in-VENT-oh-ry' (/ɪn ˈvɛnt əʊr ɪ/), but although this appears to be coming more common, AWE advises against it. The recommended pronunciation has the same stress pattern as that of 'infantry', the collective noun for foot-soldiers, ¯˘˘ - with which it seems unlikely to be confused, despite the only difference in pronunciation being the voicing of the '-f-'/'-v-'.

Etymological note: both words are derived from the Latin verb invenīre, 'to come upon, discover, find out, devise, contrive'. This is formed from the prefix (and preposition or adverb) in-, 'in, on, towards' and the verb venīre to come. An inventory is the list of what (for example) the executors of a will may 'come across' when they investigate the household belongings and other possessions of a recently deceased person. An inventor may "discover, find out, devise or contrive" an original machine, or a method of doing something.