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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
Katie Peralta Soloff, Axios, 1 Oct. 2024
Possibly as the result of an Instagram post from his fiancee geotagging them at the restaurant, he was targeted by Trone and another defendant, Tremont Jones, prosecutors alleged.
—Sandra McDonald, Los Angeles Times, 24 Sep. 2024
The horrifying injustice of his fiancee’s death, murdered on the day of their wedding, left him understandably traumatized.
—Joan MacDonald, Forbes, 20 Sep. 2024
In 2013, the sports world was rocked when news broke that Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez had been arrested and charged with the murder of Odin Lloyd, a semi-pro football player who was dating the sister of Hernandez’s fiancee.
—Meredith Blake, Los Angeles Times, 5 Sep. 2024
Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott married fiancee Hana Pugh on Sunday in a private ceremony that guests said was a surprise.
—Emily Opilo, Baltimore Sun, 12 Aug. 2024
The Kardashians star has been spending time on the megayacht of billionaire Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, 60, with his fiancee Lauren Sanchez, 54.
—Mackenzie Schmidt, Peoplemag, 28 June 2024
Sun superstar Alyssa Thomas was named to her first Olympic team at age 32 this year after nearly a decade away from USA Basketball, while Thomas’s fiancee, DeWanna Bonner, and Sun center Brionna Jones were selected for Team WNBA.
—Emily Adams, Hartford Courant, 19 July 2024
Navarro was joined on stage by his fiancee, Bonnie.
—Rebecca Morin, USA TODAY, 18 July 2024
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'fiancée.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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Cite this Entry
“Fiancée.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fianc%C3%A9e. Accessed 5 Oct. 2024.
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fiancée
noun
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