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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 fiancée in a Sentence
Yi-Jin Yu, ABC News, 12 June 2026
And a man who strangled his pregnant 19-year-old fiancee and hid her body in a shallow grave.
—Thomas Lake, AJC.com, 4 June 2026
Court records say the occupants — including Schwenk, Myers, Myers’ fiancee, and Schwenk’s mother — all escaped the blaze safely.
—Nate Gartrell, Mercury News, 2 June 2026
The younger Trump and his fiancee, Florida socialite Bettina Anderson, are due to wed on Saturday in the Bahamas.
—Naomi Lim, The Washington Examiner, 22 May 2026
Jor'Dynn Duncan had been living with her father's fiancee, Emily Kelly, at the time of her death in December 2025, Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney said in a news release announcing Kelly, her mother and her daughter had been indicted in the child's killing.
—Janelle Griffith, PEOPLE, 21 May 2026
Along with his then fiancee and now wife Emily, the defender popped in and began to feel that Celtic power.
—Greg O'Keeffe, New York Times, 16 May 2026
Philadelphia sports radio personality Mike Missanelli was arrested early Wednesday morning for allegedly assaulting his fiancee, police said.
—Laura Fay, CBS News, 8 Apr. 2026
This is disrespectful to my daughter and her fiancee.
—Abigail Van Buren, Boston Herald, 4 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Fiancée.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fianc%C3%A9e. Accessed 16 Jun. 2026.
Copy CitationKids Definition
fiancée
noun
