hyphen

CEFRB2

/ˈhaɪ.fən/

noun

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    noun

    A short line used to join words or parts of words.

  2. 02

    noun

    Extra detail

    Something which links two things of greater significance than itself.

Examples

  • It would be great if I could use a hyphen in my username.

  • You can spell it with or without a hyphen.

At a glance

Sits at B2 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
1
Citations
5
Synonyms
2

Deep Dive

noun

Extra meanings

  1. 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.

  2. Someone who belongs to a marginalized subgroup, and can therefore described by a hyphenated term, such as "German-American", "female-academic", etc.

  3. An enclosed walkway or passage that connects two buildings.

More examples

In context

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • Ax was now a Hollywood hyphenated man. An actor hyphen director hyphen writer.

Synonyms

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

The compound word 'well-being' correctly requires a blank between the two parts.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

noun

From Late Latin, from Ancient Greek ὑφέν (huphén, “together”), contracted from ὑφ’ ἕν (huph’ hén, “under one”), from ὑπό (hupó, “under”) + ἕν (hén, “one”), neuter of εἷς (heîs, “one”).