also: ばんりょ
She is the ideal person as a life partner.
結婚式で、二人は永遠の伴侶となることを誓った。
At the wedding, they vowed to become eternal companions.
He decided to become her life partner.
She felt that she had found her lifelong partner.
My grandmother lost her spouse at a young age.
She was a good companion for him.
パートナー is a casual loanword usable for any kind of partner (business, romantic, unmarried), whereas 伴侶 is more formal and typically implies a deep, often marital bond.
連れ合い is a homely, colloquial word for one's spouse, while 伴侶 sounds more elevated and literary.
伴侶 is a literary word emphasizing a life partner or companion, whereas 配偶 is a dry, bureaucratic term used in legal and statistical contexts.
companion animal; pet
Standard kanji form; the reading はんりょ is the modern pronunciation.
Obsolete reading; not used in modern Japanese.
Composed of 伴 (accompany) and 侶 (companion), both meaning companion. The word has been used in classical Chinese and Japanese to refer to a close associate or spouse.