hyphens
Compound word connectors
Hyphens are the short horizontal marks used to join words or parts of words.
They create compound adjectives before nouns: a well-known author, a two-year-old child.
They link prefixes to roots: anti-inflammatory, re-enter.
They divide words at line breaks.
Hyphens differ from the longer en dash (for ranges) and em dash (for breaks in thought).
Quick burst or pinch
- en-dashMidlength horizontal stroke
- em-dashWide horizontal punctuation mark
- separatorSomething that divides
- connectorThing that joins others
break · pause · division · spelling · typography · line-break · compound · joining
Forming a connection
- joiningLinking into one
- connectiveSomething that links
- prefixRoot-modifying front element
- suffixWord-ending addition
two-part · multi-word · attributive · modifier · self- · co- · ex- · pre-
Major Illinois metropolis
- optionalNot mandatory
- mandatoryRequired by rule
- discretionarySubject to personal judgment
- editorialPublication's official viewpoint article
consistency · copyediting · proofreading · spellcheck · dictionary · preferred · variant
dash
Quick burst or pinch
- en-dashMidlength horizontal stroke
- em-dashWide horizontal punctuation mark
- separatorSomething that divides
connector · break · pause · division · spelling · typography · line-break · compound · joining · suspended
linking
Forming a connection
- joiningLinking into one
- connectiveSomething that links
- prefixRoot-modifying front element
suffix · two-part · multi-word · attributive · modifier · self- · co- · ex- · pre- · post-
Chicago
Major Illinois metropolis
- optionalNot mandatory
- mandatoryRequired by rule
- discretionarySubject to personal judgment
editorial · consistency · copyediting · proofreading · spellcheck · dictionary · preferred · variant
- written symbolsletters, alphabets, punctuation, commas, periods
- Style GuideAP style, MLA style, house style, editorial guidelines, formatting
- writing rulespunctuation, capitalization, spelling, apostrophes, commas
- spellingspelling, spelling rules, spelling patterns, spelling errors, spelling conventions
- Transliterationtransliteration, romanization, latinization, script conversion, pinyin
- writingwriting, drafting, authors, author, books
hyphensspaces
Gaps or open areas
separators · periods · full stops · paragraph breaks · commas
hyphensspaces
Gaps or open areas
word breaks · separators · white space · separation · line breaks
- hyphenated identityCombined ancestry descriptor
- soft hyphenConditional word-break marker
hyphen, hyphenate, hyphenation, hyphenated, hyphenating, unhyphenated, hyphenates, hyphenations