Help with special difficulties

[hobah]

A man who is a Divorcee is the one who requests divorcelike to know the difference between divorcee and divorced?
thanks

 

[susiedqq]

A couple get married, then get a divorce. (noun)

They divorce each other (verb)

The woman is a divorcee.

The man is divorced.

The man says, "I am divorced." or I am a divorced man."

The woman says, "I am a divorcee." or "I am a divorced woman."

 

[NearThere]

A couple get married, then get a divorce. (noun)

They divorce each other (verb)

The woman is a divorcee.

The man is divorced.

The man says, "I am divorced." or I am a divorced man."

The woman says, "I am a divorcee." or "I am a divorced woman."

Susie,

So there ins't a word/noun for a divoiced man? Is that correct?

many thanks
NT

 

[Barb_D]

There is no masculine equivalent to divorcee, no.

But a woman can also say simply "I am divorced." She doesn't need to say "I am a divorcee," which is these days considered a very old-fashioned word, and she doesn't need to say "I am a divorced woman." Both men and women can say "I am divorced."

I does NOT matter who initiated the divorce. (Your original post seemed to impy that it might.)

 

[hobah]

Thank you barb_d , that was my question if it implies who initiated the divorce or not. but now i see it is for women as an old word
thanks

 

[Anglika]

Actually - there is a word. It is [FONT=&quot]divorcé.

[/FONT][FONT=&quot]The feminine form is properly [/FONT][FONT=&quot]divorcée[/FONT]

 

[hobah]

Actually - there is a word. It is [FONT=&quot]divorcé.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]The feminine form is properly [/FONT][FONT=&quot]divorcée[/FONT]

what does divorcé mean?

 

[Anglika]

French for a man who is divorced. "[FONT=&quot]divorcée[/FONT]" is French for a woman who is divorced.

Similar to this is "fiance/fiancee" - the first is a man who is affianced [engaged to be married], the second is a woman who is affianced. [Sorry - can't get the accents on the e]

 

[Offroad]

Are those French words used (frequently) in the English-speaking countries?

Thanks

 

[Anglika]

Those ones, yes

 

[stuartnz]

Those ones, yes

Just to amplify Anglika's comment, and remove any chance of confusion about which french words are commonly used in English-speaking countries, the fiancé/fiancée pairing is still very common in English-speaking countries, but divorcé is almost NEVER used, at least that is true of both Australian and NZ English. This is quite possibly related to the fact that it looks exactly like the word "divorce" if spelled without the é Also the other three words, divorcée, fiancé and fiancée have all been adopted into English so thoroughly that spelling them in English, without the acute accent over the e, is at least as common now as spelling them the French way, with the é. It seems likely that only the most rigidly prescriptivist users or teachers would mark as "wrong" the now common English spellings.

 

[Barb_D]

Anglika, do you REALLY hear "divorce"?

Yes, the word exists, but even when "divorcee" was still being used, I don't believe it was in common use, and with the fading of divorcee, I have NEVER heard it.

(Sorry, I can't do the accent over the e.)

 

[Anglika]

Yes - and meet it in the press when the journalist is literate!