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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
Steve Lopez, Los Angeles Times, 21 Sep. 2024
Felter, her fiance, also graduated this year from Stanford, with a bachelor’s degree in computer science.
—Bay Area News Group, The Mercury News, 1 Oct. 2024
Katy Perry won this year’s Video Vanguard award, the first winner ever introduced not by another music star, but by her fiance Orlando Bloom.
—Rob Sheffield, Rolling Stone, 12 Sep. 2024
The night before Amelia and her fiance Benji’s wedding, Amelia’s best friend and maid of honor is found dead on the beach.
—Sophie Hanson, StyleCaster, 10 Sep. 2024
However, Swift isn’t the only member of her inner circle endorsing the project; Kravitz’s fiance, Channing Tatum, is starring in the film, making all of it a family affair.
—Alejandra Gularte, Vulture, 23 Aug. 2024
Last week, a District of Columbia judge set Nov. 19 as a trial date to consider a petition that Nuzzi filed for a protective order from her former fiance, Ryan Lizza, per The Washington Post.
—Ted Johnson, Deadline, 21 Oct. 2024
My fiance, Lily Olsen, was there to take film photos, while Julie took dozens of fit photos to text to Nicholas.
—Katherine Bernard, Vogue, 17 Oct. 2024
Adapted from the novel of the same title by Liu Xiuwen, the drama centers around a successful young woman who lives in the city with her abusive fiance and a lonely terminally ill man running a noodle shop in Wuhan.
—Patrick Frater, Variety, 5 Sep. 2024
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Cite this Entry
“Fiancé.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fianc%C3%A9. Accessed 21 Nov. 2024.
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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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