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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
Kansas City Star, 4 June 2026
Additionally, a jury found Pasqual guilty of first-degree residential burglary and multiple counts of injuring a spouse, cohabitant, fiance's, boyfriend, girlfriend or child's parent.
—Tracy Wright, FOXNews.com, 3 June 2026
Corinne's fiance, 30-year-old Kyle Vasey, was seriously injured.
—Olivia Young, CBS News, 3 June 2026
Ooni, the makers of the first portable pizza oven, have a $20,000 giveaway for fiances that may want a little help funding their honeymoon.
—Ramsey Qubein, Forbes.com, 1 June 2026
Travis Kelce is a three-time Super Bowl champion, four-time All-Pro and fiance of music superstar Taylor Swift.
—ABC News, 27 May 2026
Waiting for Rosmarin back home in Boston is his fiance.
—Corey Williams, Chicago Tribune, 13 May 2026
Gorden has a fiance who is helping with parenting and her son Caiden, now in middle school, has grown into a sweet, empathetic boy.
—Los Angeles Times, 10 May 2026
My fiance struggles with communication and tends to pretend nothing bothers him.
—Harriette Cole, Mercury News, 4 May 2026
Cite this Entry
“Fiancé.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fianc%C3%A9. Accessed 8 Jun. 2026.
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
