Editing Hyphen (section)

=== Separating ===
==== Justification and line-wrapping ====
When flowing text, it is sometimes preferable to break a word into two so that it continues on another line rather than moving the entire word to the next line. The word may be divided at the nearest break point between syllables ([[syllabification]]) and a hyphen inserted to indicate that the letters form a word fragment, rather than a full word. This allows more efficient use of paper, allows flush appearance of right-side margins ([[typographic alignment#Justified|justification]]) without oddly large word spaces, and decreases the problem of [[river (typography)|rivers]]. This kind of hyphenation is most useful when the width of the column (called the "line length" in typography) is very narrow. For example:

{|
|- valign="top"
| ''Justified text<br />without hyphenation''
|
| ''Justified text<br />with hyphenation''
|- valign="top"
| style="font-family: monospace; text-align: justify"|
We,&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;therefore,&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;the<br />
representatives of the United<br />
States of America ...
| style=width:3em;|&nbsp;&nbsp;
| style="font-family: monospace; text-align: justify;"|
We,&nbsp;therefore,&nbsp;the&nbsp;{{not a typo|represen-}}<br />
tatives of&nbsp;the United States <br />
of America ...
|}

Rules (or guidelines) for correct hyphenation vary between languages, and may be complex, and they can interact with other [[Orthography|orthographic]] and [[typesetting]] practices. [[Hyphenation algorithm]]s, when employed in concert with dictionaries, are sufficient for all but the most formal texts.

It may be necessary to distinguish an incidental line-break hyphen from one integral to a word [[use–mention distinction|being mentioned]] (as when used in a [[dictionary]]) or present in an original text being quoted (when in a [[critical edition]]), not only to control its [[word wrap]] behavior (which [[character encoding|encoding]] handles with [[#Soft and hard hyphens|hard and soft hyphens]] having the same [[glyph]]) but also to differentiate appearance (with a different glyph). ''[[Webster's Third New International Dictionary]]''<ref name="Gove1993">{{cite book|last=Gove|first=Philip Babcock|title=Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CXR-tTsHo58C&pg=PT23|access-date=28 November 2014|year=1993|publisher=Merriam-Webster|isbn=978-0-87779-201-7|page=14a, §&nbsp;1.6.1}}</ref> and the ''[[Chambers Dictionary]]''<ref name="Chambers2006">{{cite book|last=Chambers|first=Allied|title=The Chambers Dictionary|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pz2ORay2HWoC&pg=PP38|access-date=28 November 2014|year=2006|publisher=Allied Publishers|isbn=978-8186062258|page=xxxviii, §&nbsp;8}}</ref> use a [[double hyphen]] for integral hyphens and a single hyphen for line-breaks, whereas Kromhout's Afrikaans–English dictionary uses the opposite convention.<ref name="Kromhout2001">{{cite book|last=Kromhout|first=Jan|title=Afrikaans–English, English–Afrikaans Dictionary|url=https://archive.org/details/afrikaansenglish00krom|url-access=registration|access-date=28 November 2014|year=2001|publisher=Hippocrene Books|isbn=978-0-7818-0846-0|page=[https://archive.org/details/afrikaansenglish00krom/page/182 182], §&nbsp;5}}</ref> The ''[[Concise Oxford Dictionary]] (fifth edition)'' suggested repeating an integral hyphen at the start of the following line.<ref name="Hartmann1986">{{cite book|last=Hartmann|first=R. Rf. K.|title=The History of Lexicography: Papers from the Dictionary Research Centre Seminar at Exeter, March 1986|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cKT4L5Qg7ZkC&pg=PA9|year=1986|publisher=John Benjamins Publishing|isbn=978-9027245236|page=9}}</ref>

==== Prefixes and suffixes ====
[[Prefix]]es (such as ''de-'', ''pre-'', ''re-'', and ''non-''<ref name="footnote_prefix_list">A fairly comprehensive list, although not exhaustive, is given at [[Prefix#List of English derivational prefixes|Prefix > List of English derivational prefixes]].</ref>) and [[suffix]]es (such as ''{{nowrap|-less}}'', ''{{nowrap|-like}}'', ''{{nowrap|-ness}}'', and ''{{nowrap|-hood}}'') are sometimes hyphenated, especially when the unhyphenated spelling resembles another word or when the [[affix]]ation is deemed misinterpretable, ambiguous, or somehow "odd-looking" (for example, having two consecutive [[phonemic orthography|monograph]]s that look like the [[Digraph (orthography)|digraph]]s of English, like e+a, e+e, or e+i). However, the unhyphenated style, which is also called ''closed up'' or ''solid'', is usually preferred, particularly when the [[Derivation (linguistics)|derivative]] has been relatively familiarized or popularized through extensive use in various contexts. As a [[rule of thumb]], affixes are not hyphenated unless the lack of a hyphen would hurt clarity.

The hyphen may be used between vowel letters (e.g., ''ee'', ''ea'', ''ei'') to indicate that they do not form a [[Digraph (orthography)|digraph]]. Some words have both hyphenated and unhyphenated variants: ''{{nowrap|de-escalate}}/deescalate'', ''{{nowrap|co-operation}}/cooperation'', ''{{nowrap|re-examine}}/reexamine'', ''{{nowrap|de-emphasize}}/deemphasize'', and so on. Words often lose their hyphen as they become more common, such as ''[[email]]'' instead of ''{{nowrap|e-mail}}''. When there are tripled letters, the hyphenated variant of these words is often more common (as in ''{{nowrap|shell-like}}'' instead of ''{{not a typo|shelllike}}'').

Closed-up style is avoided in some cases: possible [[homograph]]s, such as ''[[recreation]]'' (fun or sport) versus ''{{nowrap|re-creation}}'' (the act of creating again), ''retreat'' (turn back) versus ''{{nowrap|re-treat}}'' (give [[therapy]] again), and ''{{nowrap|un-ionized}}'' (not in [[ion]] form) versus ''unionized'' (organized into [[trade union]]s); combinations with [[proper noun|proper]] nouns or adjectives (''{{nowrap|un-American}}'', ''{{nowrap|de-Stalinisation}}'');<ref>{{Citation | url = http://www.grammarmudge.cityslide.com/articles/article/426348/2805.htm | contribution = Hyphenated Words: A Guide | title = The Grammar Curmudgeon | publisher = City slide}}.</ref><ref name="Grammar book">{{Citation | url = http://www.grammarbook.com/punctuation/hyphens.asp | title = Punctuation | publisher = Grammar book | contribution = Hyphens}}.</ref> [[acronym]]s (''{{nowrap|anti-TNF antibody}}'', ''{{nowrap|non-SI units}}''); or numbers (''{{nowrap|pre-1949 diplomacy}}'', ''{{nowrap|pre-1492 cartography}}''). Although ''{{nowrap|[[proto-oncogene]]}}'' is still hyphenated by both ''Dorland's'' and ''Merriam-Webster's Medical'', the solid (that is, unhyphenated) styling (''protooncogene'') is a common variant, particularly among oncologists and geneticists.{{citation needed|date=September 2021}}

A [[diaeresis (diacritic)|diaeresis]] may also be used in a like fashion, either to separate and mark off monographs (as in ''coöperation'') or to signalize a [[vowel|vocalic]] terminal e (for example, ''[[Brontë family|Brontë]]''). This use of the diaeresis peaked in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, but it was never applied extensively across the language: only a handful of diaereses, including ''coöperation'' and ''Brontë'', are encountered with any appreciable frequency in English; thus ''reëxamine'', ''reïterate'', ''deëmphasize'', etc. are seldom encountered. In borrowings from Modern French, whose [[French orthography|orthography]] utilizes the diaeresis as a means to differentiate [[grapheme]]s, various English dictionaries list the dieresis as optional (as in ''naive'' and ''naïve'') despite the juxtaposition of a and i.{{citation needed|date=September 2021}}

==== Syllabification and spelling ====
Hyphens are occasionally used to denote [[syllabification]], as in ''syl-la-bi-fi-ca-tion''. Various British and North American dictionaries use an [[interpunct]], sometimes called a "middle dot" or "hyphenation point", for this purpose, as in ''syl·la·bi·fi·ca·tion''. This allows the hyphen to be reserved only for places where a hard hyphen is intended (for example, ''{{nowrap|self-con·scious}}'', ''{{nowrap|un·self-con·scious}}'', ''{{nowrap|long-stand·ing}}''). Similarly, hyphens may be used to indicate how a word is being or should be spelled. For example, ''W-O-R-D spells "word"''.

In nineteenth-century American literature, hyphens were also used irregularly to divide syllables in words from indigenous North American languages, without regard for etymology or pronunciation,<ref>{{Cite web|last=Liberman|first=Mark|title=American Indian Hyphens|url=http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/005174.html|website=Language Log}}</ref> such as "Shuh-shuh-gah" (from [[Ojibwe language|Ojibwe]] ''zhashagi'', "blue heron") in ''[[The Song of Hiawatha]]''.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Longfellow|first=Henry Wadsworth|url=https://www.gutenberg.org/files/19/19-h/19-h.htm|title=The Song of Hiawatha}}</ref> This usage is now rare and proscribed, except in some place names such as [[Ah-gwah-ching, Minnesota|Ah-gwah-ching]].