fiancé
Americannoun
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 was recently telling my fiancé that my dad had me on his shoulders because she did a meet and greet and the entire mall was packed.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 10, 2026
Many in the community felt certain of his guilt, but the district attorney’s office also investigated other suspects, including Bernice’s fiancé.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 10, 2026
Taylor's 12th album, The Life of a Showgirl, dropped in October 2025, with a flurry of lovestruck lyrics about her now fiancé.
From BBC ● Jul. 1, 2026
Earlier this year, Zachary Hinckley enjoyed the $26 avocado toast at the Wynn’s Terrace Pointe Café with his son and son’s fiancé.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 19, 2026
I had a new job, a fiancé, and an expanded family—an approving Kenyan granny, even.
From "Becoming" by Michelle Obama
Fathers, husbands, brothers, fiancés and others separate daily from wives and children, mothers, sisters and girlfriends.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 20, 2022
Hitch appeared in the second season of the popular reality show, which sees people from foreign countries travel to the United States for 90 days to live with their American fiancés for the first time.
From Fox News ● Dec. 15, 2021
“Without the park, people would be effectively separated from their spouses, fiancés and partners.”
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 5, 2021
There are enough holiday movies about single people bringing fake fiancés home for Christmas that it’s become a genre unto itself.
From Slate ● Nov. 19, 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.
