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Promises, Promises: The History of Affidavit, Affiance, & Fiancé
Affidavit refers to a written promise, and its Latin roots connect it to another kind of promise in English. It comes from a past tense form of the Latin verb affidare, meaning “to pledge”; in Latin, affidavit translates to “he or she has made a pledge.”
Affidare is also the root of affiance, an archaic English noun meaning “trust, faith, confidence,” “marriage contract or promise,” or a meaning that has completely fallen from use, “close or intimate relationship.” More familiar to modern English speakers is the verb affiance, meaning “to promise in marriage” or “to betroth.” It usually appears as a fancy-sounding participial adjective:
I like to give affianced friends a copy of Rebecca Mead’s book “One Perfect Day,” which exposes the ridiculous wedding industry.
—Mollie Hemingway, The Federalist, 7 October 2014
Affiance came through French to English in the 14th century, and, nearly 500 years later, the related French words fiancé and fiancée were added to English. Etymologically speaking, a fiancé or fiancée is a “promised one.”
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Fiancé or fiancée?
People may well be anxious, when referring to their betrothed, to make sure that they use the correct term. So the fact that fiancé and fiancée are pronounced exactly the same may cause some degree of worry and uncertainty. These two words are borrowed directly from French, in which language they have equivalent but gendered meanings: fiancé refers to a man who is engaged to be married, and fiancée refers to a woman. We have, as of this date, no evidence suggesting that the meaning of either word is affected by the gender of the person to whom the fiancé or fiancée is engaged.
Examples of fiancé in a Sentence
Madeleine Marr, Miami Herald, 5 June 2024
If your fiance’s great-uncle got wind of the fact that he was being falsely accused and that your great-aunt not only didn’t love him but was after him for financial gain, who can blame him for running?
—Jeanne Phillips, The Mercury News, 27 May 2024
Janet Rucks, 66, was on the dock playing dominoes with her fiance when the storm hit.
—Cody Copeland, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 26 May 2024
Haller works on Elliott’s case with his second ex-wife, Lorna Crane, and her fiance, Cisco, while also maintaining a friendly relationship with his first wife, Maggie McPherson (Neve Campbell).
—Kevin Jacobsen and Sarah Perchikoff, EW.com, 21 May 2024
The film has also made notable choices about whom to omit, including Mark Ronson, who produced the namesake album, and Reg Traviss, Winehouse’s fiance in the last two years of her life.
—Armani Syed, TIME, 17 May 2024
Baseball aside, Henderson’s country boy look — which his fiance Katherine Lee Bishop encouraged him to keep this season — is becoming part of his notoriety.
—Sam Cohn, Baltimore Sun, 18 Apr. 2024
Coulson said Hill was with his fiance and son at the time.
—Juliana Kim, NPR, 5 May 2024
Our apartment has two rooms, one for my fiance and me, and the other for Sheila and her boyfriend.
—Harriette Cole, The Mercury News, 24 Apr. 2024
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'fiancé.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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Cite this Entry
“Fiancé.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fianc%C3%A9. Accessed 8 Jun. 2024.
Copy CitationKids Definition
fiancé
noun
from French fiancé "man engaged to be married," derived from early French fiancé, past participle of fiancer "to promise," derived from Latin fidere "to trust" — related to faith
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