affiance means faith, trust. Lexicurio rates it Rare gem — a strength score of 84 out of 100.
affiance is pronounced /əˈfaɪ.əns/.
Why “affiance” is a great word
AFFIANCE — [Noun, Verb] A formal pledge, especially of betrothal, or the quality of trust; to bind by a promise of marriage. From Middle French affiance, from affier (to promise, trust), from Medieval Latin affīdāre (to pledge faith), from Latin fīdere (to trust). First attested in English in the 14th century. Unlike "betrothal," which denotes the state of being engaged, or "vow," a solemn promise of any kind, affiance is the foundational architecture of the pledge itself. It is the chill of a signet ring pressed into sealing wax, the precise pen-strokes on a parchment contract, the quiet breath held before an announcement—the fragile human scaffold we build against the future's sheer uncertainty.
Etymology
From Middle French affiance, from affier (from Medieval Latin affīdāre, from *fīdāre, from Latin fīdere) + -ance.
noun
- Faith, trust.“[…] in syr Launcelot & you I moost had my Ioye / & myn affyaunce / & now haue I lost my Ioye of you bothe […]
[…] "in Sir Launcelot and you I most had my joy, and mine affiance, and now have I lost my joy of you both" […]”
- A solemn engagement, especially a pledge of marriage.“I that Ladie to my spouse had wonne; / Accord of friends, consent of parents sought, / Affiance made, my happinesse begonne […]”
verb
- To be betrothed to; to promise to marry.“[S]he had expected the worst ever since Drusilla had deliberately tried to unsex herself by refusing to feel any natural grief at the death in battle not only of her affianced husband but of her own father [...]”