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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.”
Did you know?
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
Corey Williams, Chicago Tribune, 13 May 2026
Waiting for Rosmarin back home in Boston is his fiance.
—ABC News, 12 May 2026
Gorden has a fiance who is helping with parenting and her son Caiden, now in middle school, has grown into a sweet, empathetic boy.
—Los Angeles Times, 10 May 2026
My fiance struggles with communication and tends to pretend nothing bothers him.
—Harriette Cole, Mercury News, 4 May 2026
Now Davenport and her fiance, both Black divorcees with two children each, have been together for four years.
—Tribune News Service, Baltimore Sun, 9 Apr. 2026
Evidence released in the report shows that Butler, as well as other witnesses interviewed in the investigation, believed that the letters were authored by Attorney Tara George over Butler having previously dated one of George’s boyfriends and current fiance.
—Tim Dunn, Boston Herald, 9 Apr. 2026
Flores’ fiance would be deported a few weeks later on a separate flight to Honduras.
—Jeff Ernsthausen, ProPublica, 23 Mar. 2026
Reed has long maintained that Stites' fiance, former police officer Jimmy Fennell, was the real killer.
—CBS News, 23 Mar. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Fiancé.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fianc%C3%A9. Accessed 15 May. 2026.
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
