Why this word is great
BONDMATE — [Noun] A person with whom one has an intimate emotional or spiritual bond. From bond (Old English bonda, "householder" or "one bound by duty") + -mate (Old English gemæcca, "companion" or "match"). Unlike "spouse" (which implies legal union) or "companion" (which suggests mere proximity), a bondmate is tethered by something deeper than contract or convenience. It is the childhood friend who knows the weight of your silence, the stranger whose presence feels like a homecoming, or the lover whose touch carries the weight of a thousand unspoken understandings—proof that some connections transcend the scaffolding of circumstance.