affiant

English

WOTD – 27 July 2025

The American politician Ray Mabus becoming an affiant by signing an affidavit of appointment before his swearing-in ceremony on May 19, 2009, as the 75th United States Secretary of the Navy.

Etymology

From affy (“(obsolete) to have faith in, trust; to formally affirm or promise; etc.”) +‎ -ant (suffix forming agent nouns from verbs).^[1]

Pronunciation

(Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /əˈfaɪənt/
Audio (Southern England): (file)
Audio (General American): (file)
Rhymes: -aɪənt
Hyphenation: af‧fi‧ant

Noun

affiant (plural affiants)

(originally US, now Canada, US, law) An individual witness whose statement is contained in an affidavit; (generally) an individual who makes a sworn deposition; a deponent.
- 1807 February 6, Lawson Flack, affiant, “Report of the committee appointed to examine into the cause of Mr. M‘Credie’s death”, in Virginia Argus, number 1350, Richmond, Va.: […] Samuel Pleasants, Junior, […], published 1 May 1807, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 1, column 3:
  This affiant looked at the wound after Mr. M‘Credie was dead, and from its appearance, which was very large, was of opinion that it was occasioned by a ball and two or three buck short. And farther this affiant saith not.
  From an affidavit sworn by Flack.
- 1986 October 1 (date when affidavit sworn), Joseph McDonnell, “Impeachment of Judge Harry E[ugene] Claiborne”, in Congressional Record: Proceedings and Debates of the 99th Congress, Second Session (United States Senate), volume 132, part 19, Washington, D.C.: United States Government Printing Office, published 2 October 1986, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 27781, column 3:
  I am bringing this information forward now because if we were involved unknowingly in something that was wrong, I want it to be righted. Further affiant sayeth naught.
  From an affidavit sworn by McDonnell. The last sentence, meaning “The affiant has nothing further to say”, is centuries-old but still used on some legal documents as the final declaration prior to the affiant’s signature.
- 2002 June, Elizabeth A. De Wolfe, “A Spectacle for Remark”, in Shaking the Faith: Women, Family, and Mary Marshall Dyer’s Anti-Shaker Campaign, 1815–1867, New York, N.Y.; Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan, →ISBN, page 123:
  In these cases, it is not hard to imagine that outside of a supportive community of apostates who asserted the Shakers duped them into joining, the public thought the affiants strange for ever dallying with the suspect sect in the first place.

Related terms

affidavit
affy (obsolete)

Translations

individual witness whose statement is contained in an affidavit

Finnish: valaehtoinen todistaja
French: please add this translation if you can

individual who makes a sworn deposition — see deponent

References

^ “affiant, n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, July 2023; “affiant, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.