老伴儿
lǎobànr · HSK 7
husband or wife
👴👵 老伴儿 = old (老) + companion (伴) = the lifelong partner an elderly person grew old beside
老 — old man 耂 + 匕 (bent figure)
Originally a pictograph of an elderly person with long hair leaning on a cane. The top 耂 depicts the hair and stooped body, while 匕 at the bottom represents the cane or a bent figure. The core meaning 'old' has remained stable since oracle bone script.
伴 — person radical 亻 + half 半
A semantic-phonetic compound: 亻(person) gives the meaning and 半 (bàn, 'half') supplies the sound while also hinting at 'one of a pair.' The original sense was 'companion' or 'partner,' someone who is your other half, and from there it extended to 'accompany.'