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Gender-specific replacement for fiancée and fiancé

English Language & Usage Asked by gp782 on March 21, 2021

I find that frequently, particularly with the advent of same-sex marriage, fiancée and fiancé are used in a confusing manner. For instance, if a man writes:

My fiancé knows all about Java, because…

(Is our speaker in a same-sex relationship, or using the wrong spelling?)

she’s a professional programmer.

(Wrong spelling!)

I frequently find myself unable to tell which of these is the case from context, and I expect other people to have the same issue. That is, they are mis-used so much, I can’t be sure when they’re used correctly. This wouldn’t be so bad if they weren’t pronounced the same way, making verbal distinction impossible. For instance, if I want to talk about my sister’s future wife, I’ll say “fiancée,” but people are likely to hear “fiancé.”

How can I make clear, both in speaking and writing, the gender of the future spouse?

I find “future husband/wife” or “husband/wife-to-be” clunky, so I’d like something more elegant than that. There probably isn’t a secret pair of words that I don’t know about, but if you can provide me with a cleaner phrasing, I’d accept it. “Girlfriend/boyfriend” doesn’t imply the impending marriage, so those don’t work for me here.

Semi-related.

2 Answers

You say you will accept a pair of words. You can get rid of the problem with fiancé(e) by using the good-old-fashioned English word betrothed.

Maybe you can say "he-betrothed" and "she-bethrothed" or some variation on that. It looks a bit weird but if fulfils your conditions I think!

bethrothed

/bɪˈtrəʊðd/

noun: betrothed

the person to whom one is engaged. "how long have you known your betrothed?"

Google Dictionary

Answered by chasly - supports Monica on March 21, 2021

By combining the prefix Ante- (it means before) with the more traditional bride or groom we now have antebride and antegroom.

Answered by Yeshe on March 21, 2021

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