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Hyphens

What are hyphens?​

Hyphens are the short lines (-) that we put between words in expressions like ticket-office or ex-husband. They are not the same as dashes (–): (see here).

Are hyphens disappearing?​

The rules about hyphens are complicated, and usage is not very clear. Perhaps because of this, people seem to be using hyphens less, especially in compound nouns. Many common short compounds are now often written ‘solid’, with no division between the words (e.g. weekend, wideawake, takeover); other less common or longer compounds are now more likely to be written as completely separate words (e.g. train driver, living room). The situation at present is rather confused, and it is not unusual to find the same expression spelt in three different ways (e.g. bookshop, book-shop, book shop). If one is not sure whether to use a hyphen between words or not, the best thing is to look in a dictionary, or to write the words separately without a hyphen.

When are hyphens used?​

Hyphens are still often used in the following cases:

Compound nouns​

  • compound nouns where the second part ends in -er
    • bottle-opener
  • compound nouns where the first part ends in -ing
    • writing-paper
  • compound nouns made with prepositions and adverb particles
    • sister-in-law
    • make-up
    • in-joke

Compound adjectives​

  • red-hot
  • nice-looking
  • blue-eyed
  • grey-green
  • broken-hearted

When we use a longer phrase as an adjective before a noun, we often use hyphens. Compare:

  • an out-of-work miner.
    He’s out of work.
  • a shoot-to-kill policy
    They were ordered to shoot to kill.

Compound verbs beginning with a noun​

  • role-play
  • house-hunt

Prefixes​

In British English, the prefixes anti-, co-, ex-, mid-, non-, pre-, post-, pro- and self- are often separated from what follows by hyphens. In American English these combinations are generally written as single words (e.g. antiwar).

  • anti-war
  • co-producer
  • ex-husband
  • mid-term
  • non-involvement
  • post-publication
  • pre-meeting
  • pro-hunting
  • self-study

In both British and American English, all prefixes may be separated by hyphens in order to avoid unusual or misleading combinations of letters.

  • un-American
  • re-examine
  • counter-revolution

Numbers 21–99; fractions​

  • twenty-one
  • thirty-six
  • two-thirds

Word division​

We also use hyphens to separate the parts of long words at the end of written or printed lines. (To see where to divide words, look in a good dictionary.)

Image caption: ...is not completely in accordance with the controversial policy of the present govern-ment, which was...

Caption: ...is not completely in accordance with the controversial policy of the present govern-ment, which was...