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A.Word.A.Day--helpmeet

helpmeet (HELP-meet) noun

A helpmate, usually applied to a wife.

[From the phrase "an help meet for him" (a help suitable for him, Adam) from Genesis. It was incorrectly written as "an help-meet for him" and erroneously interpreted as "a helper for him".]

"There is, for one thing, Ms. Connelly, keen and spirited in the underwritten role of a woman who starts out as a math groupie and soon finds herself the helpmeet of a disturbed, difficult man." A.O. Scott, From Math To Madness, And Back (Movie review: A Beautiful Mind), The New York Times, Dec 21, 2001.

This week's theme: words formed erroneously.

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