Fiancée vs. Fiancé
Are you getting married very soon? Well, don’t be alarmed. It is a not a post about marriage. Rather, we are going to talk about something which causes confusion every time we refereed to a married couple.
Yes, do you often feel confused about the words Fiancée and Fiancé? Then this post is dedicated to you.
Fiancée Fiancé
Fiancée (with two “e’s”) is a woman who is engaged to be married. Fiancé (with one “e”) is a man who is engaged to be married.
E.g., Meet Namrata, my fiancée. E.g., The name of my fiancé is Anuj.
Difference between the Words Fiancé and Fiancée
Both these words almost look identical and they have very similar spelling and pronunciation. So what makes them different from one another? This is what I will be underlining in this post. And I will also tell you a trick to remember these two words and use them without a mistake.
When to Use Fiancé or Fiancée?
The first thing that you need to know is that both these words are French words and they entered the English vocabulary sometime in the mid19th century. They are coming from Old French word fiancé which means a promise and that word is coming from the Latin word “fidere” which means trust.
Now, being a French-to-English words, these two words are gender specific.
As you already know that English word endings do not connote gender. This is why foreign word endings, especially French word endings often confuse us.
But then what’s the difference between these two word endings?
Fiancé (with one “e”) is a man who is engaged to be married.
Fiancée (with two “e’s”) is a woman who is engaged to be married.
How to Pronounce Fiancé and Fiancée?
The pronunciation of both words is the same. But how is that possible?
According to experts, the ideal pronunciation of the word is “fee-ahn-say.”
Do Fiancé and Fiancée Have Accent Marks?
As mentioned earlier, these two words are French and they are taken directly from the language. Since, many French words carry accent marks, the rule is to keep the marks as it is in the original language.
But sometimes a few exceptions can be seen in the English language. Like for the words like “résumé” or “presentation”. They are from French but now they don’t carry the accent marks.
However, it is not wrong to use the accent marks in these words as well as they are coming directly from the source language.
How to Remember the Difference?
There are many people who still find it difficult to remember the difference between fiancée vs. fiancé, even after being aware of the explanation. This is because, in English we don’t consider the gender of the word. But we have a simple rule for you to remember the words.
Fiancé means to a male that is engaged. So try to remember that both fiancé and male have one “E” in them.
Fiancée means to a female that is engaged. So, try to remember that both fiancée and female have two “E’s” in them.
Conclusion:
So, there you have it. The difference between “Fiancée” and “Fiancé”. Let us know if you have any other queries.
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