FIANCE vs. FIANCEE
G'day folks,
Here are two more words that often trick people.
Much debate
and change surrounds the terms fiancé and fiancée in the recent past. English speakers
borrowed these gendered terms from the French in the mid-19th century,
importing both the masculine (fiancé) and feminine (fiancée).
This term ultimately derives from Latin, fidare literally meaning “to
trust,” combined with the suffix -ance, which is used to form nouns from
existing verbs.
But which form
should you use when? Traditionally, the masculine form fiancé is used to
describe an engaged man, while the feminine form fiancée is used to
describe an engaged woman.
The debate
over fiancé concerns the borrowed French gender differentiations (the
same issue arises with the borrowed French terms blond and blonde). Because English does
not have word endings that connote gender, the need to mark the gender of
engaged people (or fair-haired people) often seems irrelevant to modern English
speakers, especially in light of same-sex marriages and increasing awareness of
non-binary gender roles.
Even outside
the realm of same-sex marriages, there seems to be an increasing use of fiancé
as the unmarked form for both a man and a woman.
But as we may expect, this use
may be subject to criticism, especially for those who speak a language in which
masculine and feminine forms are distinguished from one another.
Clancy's comment: Mm ... I won't tell you how I remember the difference between these words.
I'm ...
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