Meaning of "hyphen" in the English dictionary

ETYMOLOGY OF THE WORD HYPHEN

From Late Latin (meaning: the combining of two words), from Greek huphen (adv) together, from hypo- + heis one.

Etymology is the study of the origin of words and their changes in structure and significance.

PRONUNCIATION OF HYPHEN

hyphen  [ˈhaɪfən]

GRAMMATICAL CATEGORY OF HYPHEN

Hyphen is a verb and can also act as a noun.

A noun is a type of word the meaning of which determines reality. Nouns provide the names for all things: people, objects, sensations, feelings, etc.

The verb is the part of the sentence that is conjugated and expresses action and state of being.

See the conjugation of the verb hyphen in English.

WHAT DOES HYPHEN MEAN IN ENGLISH?

Hyphen

The hyphen is a punctuation mark used to join words and to separate syllables of a single word. The use of hyphens is called hyphenation. The hyphen should not be confused with dashes, which are longer and have different uses, or with the minus sign, which is also longer. In terms of an orthographic concept, the hyphen is a single entity. In terms of character encoding and display, that entity is represented by any of several characters and glyphs, depending on the context of use. Although, as mentioned above, hyphens are not to be confused with en dashes and minus signs, there are some overlaps in usage and in character encoding.

Definition of hyphen in the English dictionary

The definition of hyphen in the dictionary is the punctuation mark, used to separate the parts of some compound words, to link the words of a phrase, and between syllables of a word split between two consecutive lines of writing or printing.

CONJUGATION OF THE VERB TO HYPHEN

PRESENT

Present

I hyphen

you hyphen

he/she/it hyphens

we hyphen

you hyphen

they hyphen

Present continuous

I am hyphening

you are hyphening

he/she/it is hyphening

we are hyphening

you are hyphening

they are hyphening

Present perfect

I have hyphened

you have hyphened

he/she/it has hyphened

we have hyphened

you have hyphened

they have hyphened

Present perfect continuous

I have been hyphening

you have been hyphening

he/she/it has been hyphening

we have been hyphening

you have been hyphening

they have been hyphening

Present tense is used to refer to circumstances that exist at the present time or over a period that includes the present time. The present perfect refers to past events, although it can be considered to denote primarily the resulting present situation rather than the events themselves.

PAST

Past

I hyphened

you hyphened

he/she/it hyphened

we hyphened

you hyphened

they hyphened

Past continuous

I was hyphening

you were hyphening

he/she/it was hyphening

we were hyphening

you were hyphening

they were hyphening

Past perfect

I had hyphened

you had hyphened

he/she/it had hyphened

we had hyphened

you had hyphened

they had hyphened

Past perfect continuous

I had been hyphening

you had been hyphening

he/she/it had been hyphening

we had been hyphening

you had been hyphening

they had been hyphening

Past tense forms express circumstances existing at some time in the past,

FUTURE

Future

I will hyphen

you will hyphen

he/she/it will hyphen

we will hyphen

you will hyphen

they will hyphen

Future continuous

I will be hyphening

you will be hyphening

he/she/it will be hyphening

we will be hyphening

you will be hyphening

they will be hyphening

Future perfect

I will have hyphened

you will have hyphened

he/she/it will have hyphened

we will have hyphened

you will have hyphened

they will have hyphened

Future perfect continuous

I will have been hyphening

you will have been hyphening

he/she/it will have been hyphening

we will have been hyphening

you will have been hyphening

they will have been hyphening

The future is used to express circumstances that will occur at a later time.

CONDITIONAL

Conditional

I would hyphen

you would hyphen

he/she/it would hyphen

we would hyphen

you would hyphen

they would hyphen

Conditional continuous

I would be hyphening

you would be hyphening

he/she/it would be hyphening

we would be hyphening

you would be hyphening

they would be hyphening

Conditional perfect

I would have hyphen

you would have hyphen

he/she/it would have hyphen

we would have hyphen

you would have hyphen

they would have hyphen

Conditional perfect continuous

I would have been hyphening

you would have been hyphening

he/she/it would have been hyphening

we would have been hyphening

you would have been hyphening

they would have been hyphening

Conditional or "future-in-the-past" tense refers to hypothetical or possible actions.

IMPERATIVE

Imperative

you hyphen
we let´s hyphen
you hyphen

The imperative is used to form commands or requests.

NONFINITE VERB FORMS

Infinitive

to hyphen

Past participle

hyphened

Present Participle

hyphening

Infinitive shows the action beyond temporal perspective. The present participle or gerund shows the action during the session. The past participle shows the action after completion.

TRANSLATION OF HYPHEN

Find out the translation of hyphen to 25 languages with our English multilingual translator.

The translations of hyphen from English to other languages presented in this section have been obtained through automatic statistical translation; where the essential translation unit is the word «hyphen» in English.

• Translator English - Chinese: 破折号
• Translator English - Spanish: guión
• English: hyphen
• Translator English - Hindi: हाइफन
• Translator English - Arabic: شُرْطَةٌ
• Translator English - Russian: дефис
• Translator English - Portuguese: hífen
• Translator English - Bengali: হাইফেন
• Translator English - French: trait d’union
• Translator English - Malay: Sempang
• Translator English - German: Bindestrich
• Translator English - Japanese: ハイフン
• Translator English - Korean: 하이픈
• Translator English - Javanese: Hyphen
• Translator English - Vietnamese: gạch nối
• Translator English - Tamil: ஹைபன்
• Translator English - Marathi: हायफन
• Translator English - Turkish: tire
• Translator English - Italian: trattino
• Translator English - Polish: łącznik
• Translator English - Ukrainian: дефіс
• Translator English - Romanian: cratimă
• Translator English - Greek: ενωτικό σημείο
• Translator English - Afrikaans: koppelteken
• Translator English - Swedish: bindestreck
• Translator English - Norwegian: bindestrek

10 ENGLISH BOOKS RELATING TO «HYPHEN»

Discover the use of hyphen in the following bibliographical selection. Books relating to hyphen and brief extracts from same to provide context of its use in English literature.

Asian North American Identities: Beyond the Hyphen

The nine essays in Asian North American Identities explore how Asian North Americans are no longer caught between worlds of the old and the new, the east and the west, and the south and the north.

Eleanor Ty, Donald C. Goellnicht, 2004

Hyphen: An Anthology of Short Stories by Poets

Too often the short story is regarded as merely a poor cousin of the novel, a weekend break for novelists - an assumption that demeans the short and neglects the fact that it has an anatomy all of its own.

Ra Pge, Cliff Yates, Anne Stevenson, 2013

Writing Off the Hyphen: New Critical Perspectives on the ...

The sixteen essays in Writing Off the Hyphen approach the literature of the Puerto Rican diaspora from current theoretical positions, with provocative and insightful results.

José L. Torres-Padilla, Carmen Haydée Rivera, 2008

Life on the Hyphen: The Cuban-American Way

The first edition of Life on the Hyphen won the Eugene M. Kayden National University Press Book Award and received honorable mentions for the Modern Language Association’s Katherine Singer Kovacs Prize and the Latin American Studies ...

Gustavo Pérez Firmat, 2012

The hyphen: between Judaism and Christianity

Taking as its focus a single punctuation mark -- the hyphen in the expression "Judeo-Christian" -- this brilliant critical encounter between Jean-Francois Lyotard and Eberhard Gruber analyzes the essential differences between Judaism and ...

Jean-François Lyotard, Eberhard Gruber, 1999

English Grammar Workbook For Dummies

Hyphens (-) are the shortest horizontal marks in the punctuation world. (Dashes are the long ones.) Sometimes, hyphens function as word breakers. When you arrive at the right- hand margin in the middle of a word, a hyphen enables you to  ...

Geraldine Woods, 2010

Hannah Hyphen-Hyphen

Introduces the use of the hyphen through the story of Hannah, a member of the Punc family who is high class and fun loving.

Barbara Cooper, 2004

Grammatically Correct

The disagreement lies in whether a hyphen is needed when the modifier is a comparative (indicating a degree of intensity) or a superlative (indicating one or the other extreme). Some authorities hold that hyphens would not appear in the ...

Anne Stilman, 2004

Office 2008 for Macintosh: The Missing Manual: The Missing ...

The “Hyphenation zone” is the amount of space allowed at the end of a line before Word inserts a hyphen. The larger you set this number, the fewer hyphens you'll end up with in your document. The smaller the number, the more even the right ...

Jim Elferdink, 2008

Word 2007: The Missing Manual

If you select a chunk of text and then start manual hyphenation (Alt+P, HM), Word looks within the selection for words that should be hyphenated. You can choose to hyphenate the words by clicking Yes, or you can move the hyphen by clicking ...

Chris Grover, 2007

10 NEWS ITEMS WHICH INCLUDE THE TERM «HYPHEN»

Find out what the national and international press are talking about and how the term hyphen is used in the context of the following news items.

Ralph Nader Linguistically Hijacks Anti-Semitism - The Jewish Press

As the term gained currency in English, it was commonly spelled “anti-Semitism,” with the hyphen and capital “S,” thus implying that it refers to ... «The Jewish Press, Jul 15»

GQ reckons that Michael Fassbender is British now - Entertainment.ie

We know that there's a hyphen in the nationality when we talk about Michael Fassbender being Irish, but the German-born actor is another of ... «Entertainment.ie, Jul 15»

3 Obvious Signs This “Walt Disney-World.” Facebook Giveaway Is A …

Yes, aside from the random hyphen, that “.” is part of the name, an indicator that a scammer is trying to impersonate a popular “Verified” account ... «The Consumerist, Jul 15»

'Ant-Man' and 5 movie aunts - The Washington Post

... Paul Rudd is a man who wears a suit that gives him the qualities of an ant, and those two sides of him are joined by a hyphen. Maybe, though ... «Washington Post, Jul 15»

Port Angeles Pet Posse works to reunite lost animals with their owners

... pets with their families, and five remain missing,” said Shell-ey Van Cleave, founder of the Pet Posse, who spells her name with a hyphen. «Peninsula Daily, Jul 15»

Why Hollywood loves Australian costume designers like Orry-Kelly

When it comes to giving it a go, Orry-Kelly – a studio executive suggested he add the hyphen to seem more stylish – was a pioneer. Hollywood ... «Sydney Morning Herald, Jul 15»

The Fadnavis Formula : Special Report - India Today

The hyphen, the Indian-American, is a thing of pride he says. More than investment, he wants connect, he says. He minces no words and ... «India Today, Jul 15»

New Orleans Arts Calendar for July 16-22, 2015

Tim and Shaun 2014, photo by Kelley Anderson-Staley, is part of her exhibition "(Hyphen) Americans" at New Orleans Photo Alliance through ... «The New Orleans Advocate, Jul 15»

LPC Says New Office Building Overwhelms Historic Greenhouse

But they weren't impressed with the proposal to connect the greenhouse to the new L-shaped building with a glass "hyphen." This connector ... «Curbed NY, Jul 15»

Roxbury Teen Group Gets the Gigs

ROXBURY, NJ – When it comes to describing Roxbury-based rock band Half Normal, a hyphen makes a big difference. The teen members of ... «TAPinto.net, Jul 15»