hyphenation

American  

[hahy-fuhn-ay-shuhn] / ˌhaɪ fənˈeɪ ʃən /

noun

1. the act, process, or result of joining words with a hyphen.

2. the act of identifying a person or thing as a hybrid by means of an expression or name that contains a hyphen.

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Explanation

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."

Example Sentences

The Center for American Progress found that over 69 million female citizens over 15 do not have a birth certificate that matches their legal name because of a name change or hyphenation.

From Salon • Mar. 18, 2026

But she isn't the sort of person whose career is easily defined, at least without a lot of hyphenation.

From Golf Digest • Dec. 10, 2018

“This is what we strive for: To be accepted for our talent without categorization, without hyphenation, and until we get there, we do things like this,” said Phillips.

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 9, 2017

After all, in the land of plenty, Jews can identify with endless variations of hyphenation: Jewish-American, American Jew, “half-Jewish,” even “quarter-Jewish.”

From Slate • Mar. 22, 2012

The text uses inconsistent hyphenation: "bedclothes" and "bed-clothes"; "midday" and "mid-day"; and "midwinter" and "mid-winter".

From True Tales of Arctic Heroism in the New World by Greely, Adolphus W.