Fiancee

How to spell fiancee

7 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce fiancee

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does fiancee mean?

1. nounA woman who is engaged to be married.

Fiancee in a sentence

• He introduced his fiancee to his parents over dinner.

• The wedding planner met the bride and her fiancee separately to confirm the guest list.

Where does fiancee come from?

Language of origin: French

This word comes straight from French, where fiancée is the feminine past participle of the verb fiancer, meaning 'to betroth' or 'to promise in marriage'. That verb grew out of the Old French noun fiance, meaning a 'promise' or 'trust', which in turn rests on the verb fier, 'to trust', and ultimately on the Latin fidere, 'to trust', and fides, 'faith'. So at its heart a fiancee is literally a woman to whom a trust or pledge has been given, and the same faithful root survives in everyday English words such as 'confide', 'fidelity', and 'faith'. English borrowed the term in the middle of the nineteenth century, keeping the French spelling almost intact. The single trap for writers is the French feminine ending: the extra final 'e' (and the doubled 'ee') marks the woman, whereas the masculine fiance takes only one, and that purely grammatical French distinction is what makes the spelling feel slippery in English.

How the word is built

• fianc- (from French fiancer: to betroth)
• -ee (feminine past-participle ending marking the woman who is engaged)