affaire

Affaire is a noun of French origin with a broad range of meanings. In French it designates a matter, issue, or business to be dealt with, as in une affaire à résoudre, or a transaction, venture, or case. It can refer to a public or private matter, a situation under consideration, or a social concern. In everyday use, affaire can also denote personal matters, and in many contexts it can mean a romantic liaison, as in une affaire. The plural affaires can refer to business matters, personal affairs, or a collection of matters.

The word comes from Old French afaire, from Latin facere, “to do.” In English, the noun affair was borrowed from French and inherited similar broad senses: a matter to be dealt with, a particular event or incident, or, in a more intimate sense, a romantic relationship. The English usage also extends to collective or political matters when used in phrases like foreign affairs or international affairs.

In English, the term is often used to label notable controversies or scandals, especially in historical or journalistic contexts. Examples include the Dreyfus affair, a late 19th-century political scandal in France, and more generally phrases such as the Watergate affair or a love affair. The English sense of affair as a romantic liaison sits alongside its use for matters of business, governance, or public concern. The word remains common in both everyday speech and formal writing, with meanings shifting slightly by context from neutral matters to more charged connotations of scandal or romance.