Hyphen

A hyphen is a character used to link parts of composite words when written, particularly in Latin-based alphabets.

Use in English

To judge from television and the Internet, fewer and fewer people are using hyphens. Wholesale changes in the 2007 edition of the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary removed them from 16,000 words and phrases, compared to the 2002 edition. The result is that reading is made just a little less fluent.

At first sight there seems to be a certain leeway with regard to use of the hyphen. James Joyce was (and the German language is) quite happy with *longcompoundwords, and went without them, which is surely better than *over-doing them: which is preferable, fêel-goòd fáctor or fêelgoòd fáctor? (This is wrong: *fêel goòd fáctor. What good factor?) A word like notwithstánding is better for the absence of hyphens. But where two or more words are linked to form a compound adjective, a hyphen is such a useful clarifier before a following noun that its presence should be regarded as compulsory: lóng-håul flîght, fóreign-lánguage lëarning, scîence-fíction wrîter, régular-sêason gâme, wörld-dominâtion fántasy. (The accents show vowel sounds and can be referenced in English spellings or phonemes.)

Such compounds are very often participial: lógged-ín ûsers, bést-lòved pôet, hîgh-mînded clërgyman, lóng-récognised trûth, lóng-sërving díplomat, séldom-sêen són, óft-quôted pôem, åll-knôwing interlócutor, sélf-jústified áct, NÂTO-léd troôps, fāster-than-expécted arrîval, hālf-digésted àrticle, stône-thrôwing thúgs.

The hyphen is especially important here as it helps to contrast with the verbal use of such expressions:

The trûth has bêen lóng récognised. Ít’s a lóng-récognised trûth. Thèy were hít the sécond hàrdest. Thèy were the sécond-hàrdest hít. Similarly: Thére's a gô-slôw pólicy. But yŏu’re gôing toô slôwly.

Words ending in -ly, however, are never hyphenated in this way. It is as if the -ly is doing the hyphen's work: There ís a fāst-ácting cûre for thís slôwly devéloping disêase. Similarly, wéll is not necessarily hyphenated before a noun: wéll-knôwn or wéll knôwn. Also not hyphenated to a following word are mŏre, môst and féllow.

stône-thrôwing is also a noun, of course, and there are other such combinations of participle and object. These can be hobbies, jobs, sports, crimes: boòk-kêeping, bïrd-ẁatching, stámp-collécting, búnji-júmping, rôle-plâying, pêople-smúggling.

Compare plâying-càrds, the cards themselves, with plâying càrds ís fún. And The sâme mêdia stúdies stûdents who…, where apparently a singular media is studying students, with The sâme media-stúdies stûdents who..., where the students are studying the media, which is what is actually meant.

Adjectival expressions of quantity should be written with a hyphen: nô-gô ãrea, òne-pàrty stâte, òne-hŏrse tòwn, òne-dây internátional, tŵo-hánded báckhand. Note that in these expressions the first noun, being part of an adjective, is never plural: thrêe-wêek hóliday, fŏur-hòur séssion, tén-tòn wèight, thrêe-húndred-and-síxty-síx-dây yêar.

Similarly: ít's a òne-óff. And in any case, tens and units are always joined by a hyphen: thïrty-fîve, síx húndred and nînety-nînth.

Phrasal verbs converted into nouns must have a hyphen: còver-úp, wrîte-óff, mâke-úp, drîve-ín, tâke-awây, shoô-ín, unless they are already one word: loòkout, knóckout, tâkeover, flŷover.

Similarly with adjectives formed from phrasal verbs: jŏined-up thinking, hánd-me-dòwn clothes, tâke-ôver bíd.

Some prefixes demand a hyphen: nón- not, prô- in favour, ánti- against = ánte- before, pôst- after, éx- past, pseûdo- false, ür- original, as in nón-nâtive-spêaking, prô-refŏrm, ánti-Nàzi, ánte-nâtal, póst-mŏrtem, éx-lòver, pseûdo-intelléctual. The hyphen emphasises the meaning of the prefixes, reminding one to stress the main part of the word. And, while prê- does not normally require a hyphen, in prê-émpt (*priyémpt) it prevents a confusing clash, as it does also in pseûdo-intelléctual. In rê-sîgn stay (*rê-sîne) its use is essential to distinguish it from the opposite resîgn leave (*rizîne).

Elsewhere, the hyphen is, again in the interest of clarity, inserted between nouns which could in theory be written as one (and in some cases sometimes are). Among such words are bús-stop, quéstion-mark, sélf-sërvice, dóg-cóllar, Mâjor-Géneral, which would all make almost-as-easy sense written as two separate words. Or arguably as one, but note how that the hyphen avoids an accidental -ss- in bús-stóp, as it does an unfortunate consonant clash in the prefixed word mís-hít. In nô-òne and prê-émpt the hyphen aids pronunciation by separating identical vowel-letters with different sounds, though perhaps it is a little pedantic to separate the silent from the sounded b in dúmb-béll.

Similarly, compound compass points read best with hyphens: sòuth-êast, nŏrth-wéstern, nŏrth-êasterly.

More than one hyphen

Two or more hyphens are often required, especially in journalism, and most notably in sports:

néver-befŏre-bêaten Smíth, thrêe-tîmes-chámpion Jônes, a tŵo-únder-pàr 69, the fïrst-pàst-the-pôst sýstem, tít-for-tát strîkes, a (*wúnce) ònce-in-a-lîfetime-opportûnity.

Expressions like síx and a hàlf do not normally need to be hyphenated. But when referring to ages, hyphens are required to form adjectives: a thrêe-yêar-ôld gïrl; compare: shê was thrêe (yêars ôld); in other words, hyphens are used when the time-noun (yêar, mônth) is singular.

Where two people are associated with one event, a hyphen can link their names: A clássic Smíth-Jônes encòunter. Similarly, thê Ísrâel-Gàza bŏrder (although one nowadays sees on television captions ‘the Israel/Gaza border’: the solidus (/) is traditionally used for alternatives: ánd/ŏr.)

The hyphen is, of course, also used in double-barrelled names, Mrs Jônes-Smíth, thought this is less common than it used to be and such names now often appear without a hyphen.

The hyphen also distinguishes the adjective woùld-bê and the noun hás-bêen from their more common verbal equivalents: Coùld thís woùld-bê politícian alréady bê a hás-bêen?

It is also used to avoid triple-letter combinations: shéll-less.

Where two hyphens both link to one word, the first is ‘left dangling’: prô- and ánti-gòvernment. Initial and final hyphens can indicate fragments of a word: con-, -or-, -ly.

foréver is never hyphenated, though it can be written as two words, as for example in for éver and éver. pôstcàrd has lost its hyphen: once, in Britain, postcards had their name printed on them as two words. díshẁasher, boòkcase and êmâil are now also among the hyphenless.