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 fiancé in a Sentence
Gordon G. Chang, MSNBC Newsweek, 8 Apr. 2025
Wolfe, who has two children, and her fiance have been looking for a single-family home for four months.
—Phillip Molnar, San Diego Union-Tribune, 2 Apr. 2025
The spotting comes weeks after Sydney was reportedly postponing her wedding to her longtime fiance Jonathan Davino.
—Lea Veloso, StyleCaster, 31 Mar. 2025
Despite it all, Nick and his fiance, Danielle Ruhl, overcame vacation blow-ups and petty disagreements to make it to the altar, where Nick sweated buckets, frowned, and just looked more generally nervous than anyone has ever has in maybe all of television history.
—Kathryn Vanarendonk, Vulture, 10 Mar. 2025
Carton said about her former fiance.
—Sarah Fortinsky, The Hill, 10 Mar. 2025
The track is written by Lady Gaga, her fiance Michael Polansky, watt, and Cirkut, and fans really took a closer look at its structure and inflections.
—Lea Veloso, StyleCaster, 7 Mar. 2025
Carlos Milan, his fiance Yaniris Jerez and her brother Miguel Jerez were among those caught in the shooting.
—Devoun Cetoute, Miami Herald, 6 Mar. 2025
Perry will blast off alongside TV host Gayle King as well as Bezos’ fiance Lauren Sanchez.
—Mathew Rodriguez, Them, 27 Feb. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Fiancé.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fianc%C3%A9. Accessed 19 Apr. 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
Share