fiancé

or fi·an·ce

[ fee-ahn-sey, fee-ahn-sey ]

noun

1. a man engaged to be married.

fiancé

/ fɪˈɒnseɪ /

noun

1. a man who is engaged to be married

Gender Note

See fiancée.

Word History and Origins

Origin of fiancé¹

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; -ance, -ee

Word History and Origins

Origin of fiancé¹

C19: from French, from Old French fiancier to promise, betroth, from fiance a vow, from fier to trust, from Latin fīdere

Example Sentences

She had four people in tow — her fiancé, David Cohen, along with her mom, sister and future sister-in-law — to help carry all the flowers she was purchasing for their small wedding at Pasadena City Hall the next day.

From Los Angeles Times

When Samantha Cook booked a surprise break for herself and her fiancé, she was looking forward to a night of escapism from her "relentless" work schedule.

From BBC

Influencer Molly-Mae Hague has spoken of her "shock" at her recent split with her fiancé, professional boxer Tommy Fury.

From BBC

Her fiancé Tom Pelphrey first made her a fan.

From Los Angeles Times

After scouring social media, she found it for sale for £55 and arranged to meet the seller, taking her fiance and a male friend for backup.

From BBC

Related Words

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

Fiancé Vs. Fiancée

What’s the difference between fiancé and fiancée?

The word fiancé is traditionally used to refer to the man that a person is engaged to be married to (the groom-to-be). Fiancée is traditionally used to refer to the woman that a person is engaged to be married to (the bride-to-be).

However, the spelling fiancé—with just one e—is sometimes used without reference to gender.

The two words are pronounced exactly the same. Their different endings are due to the fact that they derive from French, which has grammatical gender, meaning that some words end differently depending on whether they are applied to men or women (with e being the feminine ending). This happens in a few other pairs of words in English, like blond and blonde, though in many cases the term without the e has become largely gender-neutral. This is the case with both blond and fiancé.

Similar to some other words derived from French (like résumé), they are sometimes written without accents, as fiance and fiancee.

Want to learn more? Read the full breakdown of the difference between fiancé and fiancée.

Quiz yourself on fiancée vs. fiancé!

True or False? 

The spelling fiancé can be used for any gender.