Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A punctuation mark ( - ) used between the parts of a compound word or name or between the syllables of a word, especially when divided at the end of a line of text.
- v. To hyphenate.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- In paleography, a curve placed below the line so as to unite the parts of a compound word, and to indicate that they are not to be separated or read as distinct words: as, —that is,
διόσκουροι , notΔιο\ς κου%26ροι ; —that is,περικλέονς , notπεπι\ κλέους —that is, antevolans, not ante volans, etc. In its use the hyphen is the exact opposite of the diastole or hypodiastole. - In writing and printing, a short line (-) used to connect two words or elements: namely, to connect two words which are so used as properly to form a compound word; to join syllables which are for any purpose arbitrarily separated, as in regular syllabication (as in el-e-men-tal), at the end of a line to connect the syllables of a divided word (as in the third line of this paragraph), to indicate the pronunciation (as in the respellings for the pronunciations in this dictionary), and to indicate or separate the etymological parts of a word, stem, affixes, etc., often without regard to the syllables (as in element-al, intro-duct-ion, su-spic-ious). At the end of such an etymological element it indicates a prefix, as a-, in-, pre-, etc.; before au element it indicates a suffix, as -a, -in, -ous, etc.
- To join by a hyphen, as two words, so as to form a compound word. Also hyphenize, hyphenate.
- n. The symbol +, = plus.
Wiktionary
- n. Symbol "-", typically used to join two or more words to form a compound term, or to indicate that a word has been split at the end of a line.
- n. figuratively Something that links two more consequential things.
- v. transitive, dated To separate or punctuate with a hyphen; to hyphenate.
- n. colloquial Used to refer to a person with a hyphenated name
- conj. Used to emphasize the coordinating function usually indicated by the punctuation "-".
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. (Print.) A mark or short dash, thus [-], placed at the end of a line which terminates with a syllable of a word, the remainder of which is carried to the next line; or between the parts of many a compound word; as in
fine-leaved ,clear-headed . It is also sometimes used to separate the syllables of words. - v. To connect with, or separate by, a hyphen, as two words or the parts of a word.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a punctuation mark (-) used between parts of a compound word or between the syllables of a word when the word is divided at the end of a line of text
- v. divide or connect with a hyphen
Etymologies
- From Late Latin, from Ancient Greek ὑφέν (hyphen, "together"), contracted from ὑφ' ἕν (hyph' hen, "under one"), from ὑπό (hypo, "under") + ἕν (hen, "one"), neuter of εἷς (heis, "one"). (Wiktionary)
- Late Latin, from Greek huphen, a sign indicating a compound or two words which are to be read as one, from huph' hen, in one : hupo, under; see hypo- + hen, neuter of heis, one; see sem-1 in Indo-European roots. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“Give her a name hyphen this summer so that she becomes Veneta-Sue, and she'll stick to her declared major of Animal Husbandry.”
“You know, that pesky hyphen is just sooooo hard to get in there.”
The ‘This has to be a Photoshop.’ Sunday Open Thread. - Moe_Lane’s blog - RedState
“Do you mean that yummy-y‘s hyphen is dishonest because you don’t think broccoli is yummy?”
“Having worked a long, long time ago in the desktop publishing business with one of the cheaper programs that was on the market at the time (Ventura Publisher long before it was acquired by Corel), that type of hyphen is put in as a conditional hyphen, not a hard hyphen.”
‘Kraut-hammer.’ Very droll, Newsweek. - Moe_Lane’s blog - RedState
“A hyphen is the dash in the middle of, for example: part-time.”
“Here, the - ly adverbs necessarily modify the adjectives that follow them, so a connecting hyphen is redundant and, to a sensitive eye, unsightly.”
“Here, a hyphen is “hung” on the end — or, less frequently, the beginning — of part of a phrasal adjective, where there is an omitted element in a common series:”
“Many of the modern builders of what Chordal calls the hyphen Corliss engine claim to have made a great advance by putting a post under the center of the frame, but whether in acknowledgment that the frame would be likely to go down or the stonework come up I could never make out.”
“The guide for whether to keep or remove the hyphen has been the text itself.”
“The hyphen was a very important part of the name, and Mrs. Scrivener-Yapling always insisted upon it.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘hyphen’.
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EN - pronunciation fun
All words of the poem
The Chaos
by Gerard Nolst Trenité
Dearest creature in creation,
Study English pronunciation.
I will teach you in my verse <...abyss, ache, actual, advice, aerie, age, ague, aisles, alas, alien, alive, allowed and 406 more...
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Word Words
Words that describe other words
adverb, verb, noun, adjective, pronoun, Synonym, antonym, phrase, dictionary, grammar, word, passage and 19 more...
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Marks
names of punctuation marks, accent marks, and other graphic signs and graphical characters used in printed, written, or digital text.
comma, period, parenthesis, apostrophe, colon, semicolon, slash, stroke, brackets, dash, em dash, en dash and 72 more...
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connexion
link, joining, junction, concatenation, hookup, isthmus, ligament, articulation, node, tie, relation, intersection and 86 more...
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Hi, you!
Words that sound like you're saying hi to a person.
hijack, hygiene, heighdy, hi-fi, hijinks, hiyacinth, hymen, highway, hiyalin, highfalutin, highbrow, hilo and 37 more...
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Latinate
lorem ipsum, citius, altius, fortius, curriculum vitae, bona fide, terra nullius, habeas corpus, quidnunc, voir dire, emeritus, quincunx and 99 more...
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colleen's words
yellow, green, pie, blue, fur, people, incense, book, brown, avuncular, mountain, fog and 1316 more...
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fbharjo's Words
jumelle, kef, kenspeckle, lautitious, essentic, pilpulistic, impavid, cicurant, clou, chrysostomic, miasma, teleology and 1625 more...
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Greek Spelling Bee List
need to know these words!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
lethargy, biopsy, enthusiasm, odyssey, synonym, calypso, character, eclectic, chronology, cosmetic, cynical, hypothesis and 128 more...
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points, accents, and curious characters
terms for punctuation, accents, typography, etc.
guillemet, ellipsis, tilde, diaeresis, dieresis, umlaut, virgule, pilcrow, alinea, etc., hyphen, em dash and 16 more...
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The Glyphs & How to Name Them
Being a list of the proper names of glyphs, both exotic and common, found in the typographer's toolbox.
apostrophe, colon, brackets, comma, dash, ellipsis, exclamation point, question mark, full-stop, period, parentheses, guillemet and 60 more...
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Punctuation Junction
titlo, apostrophe, tilde, colon, hyphen, umlaut, circumflex, grave, acute, breve, caron, macron and 13 more...
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wakest's Words
ambrotype, quincunx, triptych, ambrosia, bliss, hyphen, comma, glistered, glistering, cisternal, furax
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Quite a Character
Marks, symbols, and funny squiggly lines in typography.
tilde, diacritic, apostrophe, colon, comma, ellipsis, hyphen, semicolon, asterisk, at, backslash, umlaut and 16 more...
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tl6868's Words
peppy, ascertain, abbreviation, hyphen, prolific, dopey, sleepy, iron, ironic, rony, irony, excommunicate and 49 more...
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Finn's Nicknames
Things I call my newest dog, Finn.
finnaeus miraculous, finnegan begin-again, chew, fuzzbutt, underfoot, cuddlebunkins, booboo, finnay, hyphen, finnman
Tweets
Looking for tweets for hyphen.
dontcry Underscores look more like jimmies to me. Dec 24, 2009
PossibleUnderscore Why thank you, I'm touched. Sprinkles remind of fairies.
:D
Do you know, fairy bread isn't on the menu for the Christmas dinner this year???
*cue gasps of horror* Dec 24, 2009
ruzuzu Actually, now that I look at them on the screen, I think underscores look more like sprinkles: __ vs. -.
Once again, PossibleUnderscore is responsible for joy and mirth.
*Hands PossibleUnderscore a cupcake with rainbow sprinkles* Dec 23, 2009
benhooper how with hyphen i cooked chicken like make ice-cream bkg i like chicken not ice
http://ezinearticles.com/?Zetaclear-Review---Dont-Buy-Until-You-Read-This-Review&id=2926448 Dec 23, 2009
ruzuzu Hyphens are the little sprinkles we add to ice-cream. Dec 23, 2009
mollusque I think PossibleUnderscore is becoming increasingly probable. Dec 6, 2009
reesetee We all have a dream. :-) Dec 6, 2009
PossibleUnderscore Exactly right! I'm glad you see. I'm still trying to find a way to Defy Gravity Elphaba style. Dec 4, 2009
reesetee Of course I understand! I think....Anyway, if it weren't for that dad-blasted gravity thing, you wouldn't have a problem with the mess. Dec 4, 2009
PossibleUnderscore That's what everyone says, but really it's quite ensmalling.
__ to -. Dec 3, 2009
pterodactyl I imagine that, for an underscore, the experience of becoming a hyphen would be very uplifting. Dec 3, 2009
PossibleUnderscore Heh, I see. We do. And ! always eat their food shouting. It's terribly noisy, not to mention messy. Eating spaghetti is an experience always accompanied by many strange glances in my general direction.
I also have a habit of eating half a sandwich, then opening it up and eating the inside but that leaves me with plain bread which is very annoying. Surely you understand?? Dec 2, 2009
reesetee Oh, I wasn't trying to ensmallen you! I was merely asking if Underscores always eat food beginning at the underneath, you see.
Which would make twirling spaghetti a bit difficult, come to think of it.... Dec 2, 2009
PossibleUnderscore oh.
*feels small*
But at least I'm Possible!
*waves flag of bemusement* Dec 2, 2009
reesetee Because you're an Underscore? ;-> Dec 2, 2009
PossibleUnderscore Thank you.
*eats cake from underneath, licks icing, eats the rest: the only way to eat a cupcake* Dec 2, 2009
reesetee *hands PossU a conciliatory cupcake* Dec 2, 2009
PossibleUnderscore *scream* Dec 1, 2009
reesetee Well, I for one don't think you need to worry. You're only a PossibleUnderscore anyway. :-) Dec 1, 2009
PossibleUnderscore Someone told me today that bad Underscores become Hyphens.
That's not true is it?
Is it?
I'm not bad.
I'm really not.
I promise. Dec 1, 2009
qroqqa If you take hyphens seriously, you will surely go mad.
—Oxford style guide
Jun 19, 2009
bilby "'As I said in my speech': I told him, 'your new middle name would consist of a noun, the name of a flower or fruit or nut or vegetable or legume, or a bird or a reptile or a fish, or a mollusk, or a gem or a mineral or a chemical element -- connected by a hyphen to a number between one and twenty.' I asked him what his name was at the present time.
'Elmer Glenville Grasso,' he said.
'Well,' I said, 'you might become Elmer Uranium-3 Grasso, say. Everybody with Uranium as a part of their middle name would be your cousin.'
'That brings me back to my first question,' he said, 'What if I get some artificial relative I absolutely can't stand?'"
- 'Slapstick', Kurt Vonnegut. Mar 24, 2008
kewpid This is used to join words together (e.g. well-being), or indicate where a word is broken at the end of a line. Cf em dash and en dash.
more info. Dec 9, 2007