Did you know?
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 fiancée in a Sentence
Rosalio Ahumada, Sacbee.com, 5 Jan. 2026
If the wedding is called off, the foreign fiance or fiancee must return to their country of origin.
—Julia Meszaros, The Conversation, 21 Nov. 2025
The 2024 offseason was a whirlwind, his first while dating musical icon Taylor Swift, who is now his fiancee.
—Blair Kerkhoff, Kansas City Star, 21 Nov. 2025
Dahlin spent a week in Sweden visiting his fiancee, who is recuperating from heart transplant surgery.
—CBS News, 16 Nov. 2025
Pass rusher Bradley Chubb, who visited Madrid this past summer with his Dominican fiancee, took his teammates shopping at some of Madrid’s high-end stores near the team hotel on Tuesday, which is the day the Dolphins arrived.
—Miami Herald, 12 Nov. 2025
Elizabeth is the budding mad doctor’s fiancee, who’s dismembered under the blades of a rogue lawnmower in the opening scene of the film.
—Katie Rife, Vulture, 9 Nov. 2025
The poster Chris Equale and his fiancee, Sarah Rasmussen, from Great Falls, Virginia, told that Fiona and her best friend Kili met while out on their daily walks, and immediately bonded.
—Maria Azzurra Volpe, MSNBC Newsweek, 31 Oct. 2025
John Robinson, a diehard Bengals fan and member of the Bengals Bomb Squad tailgate in Lot 1, proposed to his now fiancee and Steelers fan, Jennifer Longo, ahead of the primetime game.
—Kaycee Sloan, Cincinnati Enquirer, 17 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Fiancée.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fianc%C3%A9e. Accessed 11 Jan. 2026.
Copy CitationKids Definition
fiancée
noun
Share