‐

‐ U+2010, ‐ HYPHEN ← General Punctuation ‑ →

In N'Ko script, a low hyphen is used to join words, and contrasts with the ASCII hyphen that divides words at line breaks.

‐ (English name hyphen)

1. Separates certain pieces of text.
   1. Separates syllables.

      syl‐lab‐i‐fi‐ca‐tion

   2. Separates letters to indicate the spelling of a word.

      W‐O‐R‐D spells "word".

   3. Separates letters to indicate emphasis.
      • 1945 April 30, ad for Listerine shaving cream in LIFE, vol. 18, no. 18, page 7:

        35¢ TUBE LASTS AND L‐A‐S‐T‐S

   4. Splits a word across a line break (called hyphenation).

      Synonym: (dated) ⹝

      We, therefore, the represen‐
      tatives of the United States […]

   5. Marks a point where a morpheme (a suffix, a prefix, etc.) is supposed to be attached to a word.

      Happiness ends with ‐ness.

2. Connects certain pieces of text.
   1. Connects words in compound terms.

      Synonym: – (“en-dash”)

      freeze‐dry

   2. Connects names in some compound surnames.

      Chandler‐Mather

   3. Indicates common parts of repeated compounds.

      nineteenth‐ and twentieth‐century

   4. Connects words in some situations, akin to a space.
      • 1990, Larry Gonick, The Cartoon History of the Universe (in English), page 25:

        Bee #1: It‐is‐good‐that‐we‐do‐all‐the‐work‐and‐the‐queen‐gets‐all‐the‐sex‐
        Bee #2: Yes‐good‐for‐the‐hive

   5. In dates, connects the year, the month and the day.

      1789‐07‐14 (the date of the first Bastille Day)

3. Indicates stuttering.

   W‐w‐would you marry me?

4. Separates the components of a pun.

   This is a cat‐astrophe! (a catastrophe involving cats)

5. Hides letters.

   Synonyms: – (“en-dash”), — (“em-dash”)

   G‐d ― God

• The similar-looking hyphen-minus (-) is used more frequently, but is used for many purposes (as a hyphen, minus sign, and dash). The hyphen symbol is therefore more specific.
• Most text systems consider a hyphen to be a word boundary and a valid point at which to break a line when flowing text. However, this is not always desirable behavior. The non-breaking hyphen looks identical to the regular hyphen, but is not treated as a word boundary.
• A soft hyphen is generally invisible text character marking a point where hyphenation can occur without forcing a line break in an inconvenient place if the text is later reflowed. For example:

Margaret­Are­You­Grieving­Over­Goldengrove­Unleaving­Leaves­Like­The­Things­Of­Man­You­With­Your­Fresh­Thoughts­Care­For­Can­You­Ah­As­The­Heart­Grows­Older­It­Will­Come­To­Such­Sights­Colder­By­And­By­Nor­Spare­A­Sigh­Though­Worlds­Of­Wanwood­Leafmeal­Lie­And­Yet­You­Will­Weep­And­Know­Why­Now­No­Matter­Child­The­Name­Sorrows­Springs­Are­The­Same­Nor­Mouth­Had­No­Nor­Mind­Expressed­What­Heart­Heard­Of­Ghost­Guessed­It­Is­The­Blight­Man­Was­Born­For­It­Is­Margaret­You­Mourn­For

Punctuation

‐ (name hyphen)

1. Joins prefixes and suffixes according to stylistic rules, often to avoid confusion in pronunciation or meaning.

   Synonyms: (US) · (“interpunct”), ◌̈ (“diaeresis”)

   ultra‐ambitious (to indicate both aes are pronounced)

   I must re‐press the shirt. (to avoid confusion with repress)

2. Connects words in a compound modifier according to various stylistic rules.

   real‐world examples (but "examples are from the real world")

3. (Internet slang) Used as sentence-final punctuation.

‐

1. Joins the components of compounds.
   1. Joins the components of coordinative compounds, with equal components.

      secretary‐general; yellow‐green; a here‐today‐gone‐tomorrow attitude; kitchen‐dinette‐office

   2. Joins the components of subordinative compounds, with a dominant component or head.

      a has‐been; cholesterol‐free; short‐changing

• In American English, compound words are formed more liberally than in British English. Hyphenated compound nouns are also much more common in colloquial American English.

• (joining components of coordinative compounds): and, hyphen or -hyphen-, cum or -cum-, /, slash

Punctuation

• hyphen on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

‐

1. Alternative spelling of -

‐

1. Separates certain pieces of text.
   1. Separates syllables.