A Galactic intermediate-mass stripped star with a Wolf-Rayet-like wind

Binary interaction in massive stars is expected to produce a large population of intermediate-mass (2 - 8 M) envelope-stripped stars, yet such objects have remained elusive in the Milky Way. We report the identification of an unambiguous Galactic example in a short-period (P=5.94 d), double-lined spectroscopic binary, discovered in the SDSS-V Milky Way Mapper survey. The system consists of a rapidly rotating O-type star and a hotter, lower-mass companion, which shows He II and N IV emission lines with large radial velocity variations, revealing its binary nature. Combined orbital constraints and joint spectroscopic and photometric modelling show that the companion is a hot (T about 60 kK), helium-rich star with a mass of 3.2 - 5.8 M, placing it squarely in the intermediate-mass regime and below values typically inferred for classical Wolf-Rayet (WR) stars. The system's short period, negligible eccentricity, and rapidly rotating O-star point to a post-interaction configuration following efficient mass transfer and spin-up of the accretor. Comparison with binary evolution models suggests that the stripped star is observed in a brief inflated phase following mass transfer, which increases its optical flux contribution and facilitates its detection. The inferred mass-loss rate = -6.3 plus or minus 0.1 is in line with mass-loss rates observed for classical WR stars in the Milky Way and exceeds those measured for intermediate-mass stripped stars in the Magellanic Clouds, with the caveat that our target selection is biased towards systems with stronger emission features. As an unambiguous and well-characterised intermediate-mass stripped star, this system provides a key benchmark for models of binary evolution at solar metallicity, stripped-envelope supernova progenitors, and the formation of compact-object binaries.