better half
noun
Forms better halves
- noun A person's spouse or lover, most commonly a man's wife. “Let me ask my better half and get back to you.”
- noun (archaic) A very close friend or companion.
Synonyms
spouse consort helpmate helpmeet mate other half partner spousy wedder ball and chain married person
Etymology
Ultimately from such Latin poetic phrases as animae dīmidium meae (“half of my soul”) (Horace writing about Virgil), when it instead referred to a close friend (compare soulmate). First written instance of it meaning “spouse” was in 1580 by Sir Philip Sidney.
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 — from the Wiktionary entry “better half”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details