helpmeet

plural helpmeets

1. A helpful partner, particularly a spouse.

   When he went to Deborah and told her that the Lord had led him to ask her to be his wife, his holy helpmeet, she looked at him for a moment in what seemed to be speechless terror.

   1953, James Baldwin, “Gabriel's Prayer”, in Go Tell It on the Mountain (Penguin Classics), London: Penguin Books, published 2001, →ISBN

   1 more example

   [on vocabulary errors] … and helpmates for meet-helps—the difference of the meaning of the two words is so obvious, that it is surprising it should have escaped attention.—A person may be a helpmate and at the same time be very far from being a help-meet, which is here intended.

   1839, The Friend's Intelligencer, volume 1, number 24, Eighth month 1st, 1839, article Friend's Discipline, pages 456–457

   Synonyms: helpmate, spouse, better half, consort, helpmate, mate, other half, partner