Other forms: partners, partnered, partnering
A partner is the person you do something with — dance with, play with, work with, live with. The word covers all of those and lets the context decide which is meant.
In modern English its most important use is for the person you live with, married or not, and that is precisely why it is so useful: partner says nothing about marriage, gender or legal status, which is why forms, doctors and colleagues now use it as the default. In business, a partner is a co-owner of a firm, and in law firms partner is a rank. The verb means to be somebody's partner: she partnered him in the final.
1nounspouseThe person you live with as a couple.~28%
“She came to the party with her partner.”
synonyms: spouse
2nounpartnerThe person you dance, play or work with.~28%
“Find a partner and stand in two lines.”
3nounbusinessA co-owner of a business.~42%
“He made partner at thirty-four.”
4verbactTo act as somebody's partner.~2%
“She partnered him in the mixed doubles.”
Shares are an estimate: a language model read 21 sentences found in the wild and placed 21 of them on a sense — a count of our sample, not a measurement of English.
partner is a person you do something with.
Old French parçonier meant a sharer or joint holder, from Latin partitionem, a division. English reshaped the word under the influence of part, which is why it looks like part plus -ner. A partner is somebody who holds a part.
Latin
partītiōnem
Old French
parçonier
Middle English
partener
English, today
partner
Built from
From Middle English partener, partiner, alteration (due to Middle English part) of Middle English parcener, from Old French parçonier, parçonneour (“joint heir”) from parçon (“partition”), from Latin partītiōnem, singular accusative of partītiō (“portion”). The word may also represent Old French part tenour (“part holder”). Compare also Middle English partifere (“partner”), partifelewe (“partner”). a doublet of parcener.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA