fiancé

American  

[fee-ahn-say, fee-ahn-say] / ˌfi ɑnˈseɪ, fiˈɑn seɪ /

Or fiance

noun

• fiancés
  plural

1. a man engaged to be married.

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fiancé British  

/ fɪˈɒnseɪ /

noun

1. a man who is engaged to be married

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Gender

See fiancée.

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• fiancés
  plural

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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

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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.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

fiancé fiancés

Jennifer Meyer announces the arrival of her third child, a baby girl, in a sweet Father’s Day post celebrating fiancé Geoff Ogunlesi.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 12, 2026

“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

My fiancé, 67, is cutting his kids out of his will — and leaving everything to me.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 3, 2026

A moment of silence, then he says, “Her fiancé finds me ‘off-putting.’”

From "Challenger Deep" by Neal Shusterman

But also, I have fond memories of going ring shopping in Iran, a family affair in which fiancés choose their own halos.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 21, 2022

“Without the park, people would be effectively separated from their spouses, fiancés and partners.”

From Seattle Times ● Apr. 5, 2021

Other adult children, sometimes with friends and fiancés in tow, are turning their parents’ kitchens into co-working spaces.

From New York Times ● Mar. 25, 2020

“All of my boyfriends, husbands and fiancés have been my best friends, so it’s a terrible gap they leave,” she told Red magazine in May of this year.

From Fox News ● Oct. 7, 2019

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

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Related Words

• affianced
• affianced person
• betrothed
• engaged person
• future mate
• groom-to-be
• husband-to-be
• intended
• prospective spouse

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