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hyphenation

/ˌhaɪfəˈneɪʃən/
IPA guide

Other forms: hyphenations

Hyphenation is what you do when you use a dash-like punctuation mark to join two words into one or separate the syllables of a word. See the word dash-like in that previous sentence? It's formed using hyphenation.

The process of using a hyphen, that short dash in compound words like dog-friendly, fast-acting, and well-known, is what hyphenation is all about. We also use hyphenation when we're writing and need to split a long word between lines, breaking it in half and adding a hyphen between complete syllables. The Greek root is hyphen, "mark joining two syllables or words."

Definitions of hyphenation
  1. noun
    division of a word especially at the end of a line on a page
    synonyms: word division
    see moresee less
    type of:
    division
    the act or process of dividing
  2. noun
    connecting syllables and words by hyphens
    see moresee less
    type of:
    punctuation
    the use of certain marks to clarify meaning of written material by grouping words grammatically into sentences and clauses and phrases
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