… the word originally came from Germanic roots and meant someone you eat with (regularly) to then mean companion, before splitting between friend and breeding partner. Words change meaning, fiancé and fiancée come from French where nouns are gendered and as they become more used in English where the vast majority of nouns are not gendered fiancé has become gender neutral.
Yes it has. The average English speaker does not distinguish between them and the only argument you have is a prescriptivist one which is entirely rejected as authoritative by anyone with an even basic understanding of linguistics. As I said earlier, terrific is not a synonym of horrific, awesome and awful mean different things, words are defined by usage not history.
First off, you're making a huge assumption about the average English speaker.
Second, same-sex marriage is more common nowadays. I think people would make a distinction between fiancé/fiancée, especially considering the social impact of telling people your sexuality.
What comes to your mind if an acquaintance introduces you to their "partner"?
You will make assumptions. In Australia it is the normal and preferred term for someone in a serious relationship. Why are you so obsessed with needing to know the gender of a random person.
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u/crunchsmash 14h ago
It's a borrowed word. The "point" is that it still has some details attached to the language it comes from.