hyphen
Syllables: hy·phen/ˈhaɪ̯.f(ə̯)n̩/UK/ˈhaɪ̯.fən/
hyphen noun: the 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.
Noun
hyphen (plural hyphens)
- The 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.
- As the proud owner of my very own hyphen in a lovingly crafted surname, I have an especial soft spot for this most confusing of punctuation marks.2021, Claire Cock-Starkey, Hyphens & Hashtags, Bodleian Library, page 56
- Something which links two things of greater significance than itself.
- Cunliffe and Karunanayake (2013) developed Fine's notion to introduce potential hyphen spaces that are deeply implicated and reciprocally influential in relationships between researchers and the researched.2019 June 20, Noof Aldaheri, Gustavo Guzman, and Heather Stewart, “Tales of the Unknown and Entanglement”, in Prof. Anthony Stacey, editor, ECRM 2019 18th European Conference on Research Methods in...
- An enclosed walkway or passage that connects two buildings.
- The hyphens were added, joining the structures into one building, which now measures just over two hundred feet long.1997, Peter Beney, The Majesty of Colonial Williamsburg, page 156
- Construction details for the hyphens, or "connecting wings" as they were called by the contractors, were included in the contractors' specifications, as follows:2010, Mary L. Kwas, A Pictorial History of Arkansas's Old State House
- Someone who belongs to a marginalized subgroup, and can therefore described by a hyphenated term, such as "German-American", "female-academic", etc.
- Tab has been kept on quite a number of members who rapturously applauded when that part of the message in which the hyphens were attacked was read by the President.1916, The American Monthly - Volume 3, page 221
- Sign language interpreters fascinate me because their cultural space, "working the hyphens" as Michelle Fine (1994) would call it, and performing in the kind of hybrid third space that Homi Bhabha (1994) has written about resonates often with my own "hard-of-hearing" doubly hyphenated existence in...2004, Bonnie G. Smith, Beth Hutchison, Gendering Disability, page 61
Verb
hyphen (third-person singular simple present hyphens, present participle hyphening, simple past and past participle hyphened)
Conjunction
hyphen
- Used to emphasize the coordinating function usually indicated by the punctuation "-".
- You are sitting at the wrong table, if I may be so bold, among the misguided who believe in the mass murder of mentalities, otherwise known as the liberal arts hyphen vocational training hyphen education.1945, Robert Gessner, Youth is the time
- Ax was now a Hollywood hyphenated man. An actor hyphen director hyphen writer.1950, Cleveland Amory, Home town
hyphen meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali
hyphen in Hindi
- symbol used to join words or to indicate a word has been split
- हैफ़ेन haifen
hyphen in Tamil
- குறி, சொல்லிடை இணைப்புக்குறி, சொல்லிடையிணைப்புக்குறி
hyphen in Urdu
- symbol used to join words or to indicate a word has been split
- ہائِفِن hāifin
hyphen in Bengali
- symbol used to join words or to indicate a word has been split
- হাইফেন haiphen
More languagesFewer languages
- hyphen in Malayalam
- തുടർച്ചക്കുറി, ഒട്ടുകുറി, പദഘടകചിഹ്നം
- hyphen in Kannada
- ಅಡ್ಡಗೆರೆ, ಕೂಡುಗೆರೆ
- hyphen in Tagalog
- gitling, giyon
- hyphen in Arabic
- شَحْطَة šaḥṭa, شَرْطَة šarṭa
- hyphen in Malay
- sempang
- hyphen in Indonesian
- tanda hubung
- hyphen in Thai
- ยัติภังค์ yát-dtì-pang
- hyphen in Vietnamese
- dấu gạch nối, dấu nối
- hyphen in Myanmar
- တုံး tum:
Examples of hyphen in a sentence
- Those were the “hyphens,” the passageways that connected the wings of the mansion to its center.2012, James M Cain, The Cocktail Waitress:
- A leading Republican paper also had, on the eve of the convention, focused attention on this issue by remarking that Hughes was “designated by the Hyphens as their agent to punish Mr.2013, Kevin O’Keefe, A Thousand Deadlines:
- He described himself as a poet-composer and actually said the word hyphen when he did so: "I'm a poet hyphen composer.1983, Linda Crawford, Vanishing acts:
- He is an actor (hyphen) writer (hyphen) director.1983, David S. Reiss, M*A*S*H: the exclusive, inside story of TV's most popular show:
Synonyms of hyphen
Forms of hyphen
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | hyphens |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | hyphens |
| present participle | hyphening |
| past participle | hyphened |
| past | hyphened |
Origin of hyphen
Learned borrowing from Late Latin hyphen, from Ancient Greek ῠ̔φέν (hŭphén, “in one, as a single word”), univerbation of ῠ̔φ’ ἕν (hŭph’ hén, “under one”), from ῠ̔πο- (hŭpo-, “under”) + ἕν (hén, “one”), neuter of εἷς (heîs, “one”).
Words formed from hyphen
Phrases with hyphen
Words that rhyme with hyphen
Questions about hyphen
- What does hyphen mean?
- Hyphen means the 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.
- What is hyphen in Hindi?
- Hyphen in Hindi is हैफ़ेन (haifen). See Hyphen meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use hyphen in a sentence?
- Those were the “hyphens,” the passageways that connected the wings of the mansion to its center.
- What part of speech is hyphen?
- Hyphen can be a noun, a verb or a conjunction.
- How do you pronounce hyphen?
- Hyphen is pronounced /ˈhaɪ̯.f(ə̯)n̩/.
- What is the plural of hyphen?
- The plural of hyphen is hyphens.
Words near hyphen in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: hyphen (page history and authors); hyphen (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); hyphen (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); hyphen (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-us-hyphen.ogg.
Cite this entry: “hyphen.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/hyphen. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.