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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
Harriette Cole, The Mercury News, 20 Mar. 2024
Dear Amy: My fiance and I are planning for our destination wedding this summer.
—Amy Dickinson, Detroit Free Press, 13 Mar. 2024
Jurors did not believe Alvarez’s testimony that the shooting was self-defense
SAN DIEGO —
A man who shot and killed his ex-girlfriend’s new fiance — a popular Cathedral Catholic High teacher — was found guilty Monday of first-degree murder and discharging a firearm.
—Teri Figueroa, San Diego Union-Tribune, 11 Mar. 2024
Two weeks before her murder, police in Moab, Utah, responded to a domestic violence call in which a witness reported seeing her fiance and travel companion Brian Laundrie hitting her in public and trying to drive off without her.
—Michael Ruiz, Fox News, 7 Mar. 2024
Her fiance, Orlando Bloom, did, however, best the recent Super Bowl Halftime Show performer.
—Ree Hines, Forbes, 13 Feb. 2024
McIntyre’s fiance, Rosemary Dunning, has been waiting for a trial ever since.
—Julia Coin, Charlotte Observer, 21 Feb. 2024
Special to the Courier Journal Dining out is one of my favorite hobbies, and my fiance William — who rarely went out for dinner before meeting me — is now happy to explore various restaurants around town.
—Lennie Omalza, The Courier-Journal, 2 Jan. 2024
The model posted a video on her Instagram Story Thursday night that showed her fiance accepting the award on stage at the event.
—Kirsty Hatcher, Peoplemag, 9 Feb. 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.
Word History
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Cite this Entry
“Fiancé.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fianc%C3%A9. Accessed 16 Apr. 2024.
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Kids 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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