English Explanatory Dictionary

better half

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. A person's spouse or lover, most commonly a man's wife.
  2. A very close friend or companion.

Pronunciation

en-au-better half.ogg

Word forms

better half better halves

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.

Synonyms

spouse better half consort helpmate helpmeet mate other half partner wedder ball and chain
This entry uses open data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA/GFDL). Word forms are used for search and are not indexed as separate pages.
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