In Western tradition, a woman wears an engagement ring on her left-hand ring finger that indicates her engagement to be married. It is customary in some countries to wear an engagement ring on the right-hand ring finger. By modern convention, the ring usually means a betrothal gift by a man to his prospective bride while or directly after she accepts his marriage proposal. It represents a formal agreement to future marriage.

Similar traditions supposedly date to classical times, dating back from an early usage reportedly referring to the fourth finger of the left hand as containing the "vein of love".

In the United States & Canada today, it is becoming more common, but still quite rare, that a woman will also buy an engagement or promise ring for her partner at the time of the engagement.

In Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland and Germany both the man and the woman wear engagement rings, most often in the form of matching plain bands of white, yellow, or red gold. In these countries the man's engagement ring often also eventually serves as the wedding ring. Some men wear two rings, but this is rarer. Men occasionally give a female diamond wedding ring. In northern Germany, they don’t often follow the tradition of engagement rings and often view it as an American import. In Spain the woman sometimes buys an engagement wristwatch for the man after accepting a marriage proposal.