fiancé
Americannoun
-
fiancés
plural
noun
Gender
See fiancée.
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of fiancé
First recorded in 1850–55; from French: “betrothed,” past participle of fiancer, Old French fiancier, verbal derivative of fiance “a promise,” equivalent to fi(er) “to trust” (from unattested Vulgar Latin fīdāre, Latin fīdere ) + -ance noun suffix; see -ance, -ee
Explanation
The minute you get down on one knee and ask a man to marry you — assuming he says "yes" — he becomes your fiancé, or the man you are engaged to marry. Fiancé comes from French; in fact, it is so French that it even has masculine and feminine versions (like many nouns in French). If you're talking about a woman, you would call her a fiancée rather than a fiancé, which is used only to refer to men. The Latin root of fiancé, which is spelled the same way, means "a promise," so you can think of becoming someone's fiance as a promise you're making to go through with the marriage.
Vocabulary lists containing fiance
English Words Derived from French, List 8
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Illegal
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Endangered
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
“I don’t know how sustainable it is,” she says at the Wild Fig, an Aspen restaurant, as her fiancé tends bar.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 6, 2026
Strong performances are elicited from José Eduardo Moreno, who plays Klion’s son Hemon, Antíkona’s fiancé, and Zilah Mendoza, who plays Cihuatlahtoani Euridice, Klion’s wife.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 11, 2026
It looked great, but we asked if my fiancé could also try on some suits that were on sale.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 1, 2026
You might want kids, but you called it quits with your fiancé and the next few years at work are going to be pretty busy?
From Slate ● Aug. 29, 2026
In the summer of 1966, Patricia Marx flew to Vietnam to visit her fiancé.
From "Most Dangerous: Daniel Ellsberg and the Secret History of the Vietnam War" by Steve Sheinkin
The K-1 visa is designed to reunite U.S. citizens with their foreign fiancés, giving them 90 days to get married before the visa expires.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 30, 2023
"All of my boyfriends, husbands and fiancés have been my best friends, so it’s a terrible gap they leave," she explained.
From Fox News ● Mar. 5, 2022
“Without the park, people would be effectively separated from their spouses, fiancés and partners.”
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 5, 2021
It was a new visa that they had back in 2002 when we got married: a K-3 visa for fiancés and wives or husbands of American citizens.
From Slate ● Oct. 27, 2020
And it sounds like they’re talking about their fiancés, but they’re talking about a frothy mixture of tulle and lace?
From "From Twinkle, with Love" by Sandhya Menon
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
