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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
Barbara A. Perry, Newsweek, 27 Jan. 2025
My fiancé has a 2-year-old son and due to alternate work schedules, the child spends the days with my fiance and then nights with his mother.
—Jann Blackstone, Boston Herald, 26 Jan. 2025
Amazon’s Jeff Bezos and his fiance Lauren Sanchez made the rounds at the fundraising dinner at the National Building Museum, as did SpaceX founder Elon Musk.
—Rosemary Feitelberg, WWD, 20 Jan. 2025
Kline’s fiance called 911 and then Espinoza, who works as a traveling nurse in Otto, Wyoming, Cowboy State Daily reported.
—Brooke Baitinger, Idaho Statesman, 10 Jan. 2025
There was host Nikki Glaser teasing Gomez’s choice of fiance Benny Blanco.
—Cristina Escobar, refinery29.com, 6 Jan. 2025
Her fiance, Kyle Warner, who also grew up in the Palisades, said his family had done the same.
—Summer Lin, Los Angeles Times, 11 Jan. 2025
That's certainly proven to be the case for Kate O'Neill and her fiance, Michael O'Malley from Ireland, who are hoping to tie the knot in Portugal next year.
—Tommy Tuberville, Newsweek, 8 Jan. 2025
On July 26, 1997, Corcoran was living with his brother, James Corcoran; his sister, Kelly Nieto; and her fiance, Robert Turner.
—Joseph Dits, The Indianapolis Star, 18 Dec. 2024
Articles Related to fiancé
Dictionary Entries Near fiancé
Cite this Entry
“Fiancé.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fianc%C3%A9. Accessed 11 Feb. 2025.
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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