hyphen

noun

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.

(figuratively) Something which links two things of greater significance than itself.

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

An enclosed walkway or passage that connects two buildings.

verb

(transitive, dated) To separate or punctuate with a hyphen; to hyphenate.

Roots

hypohyph- · Greek · under

Synonyms & related words for hyphen

Find synonyms, related words, and the definition of hyphen. Dendril is a free visual thesaurus that shows them on an interactive map where stronger matches sit closer to the center — no signup, no ads.

Words related to hyphen

Explore words related to hyphen — words associated with it, words that go with it, and its nearest matches in meaning. Related words include hyphenate, unhyphenated, dash, hyphenation, semicolon, comma, apostrophe, punctuation. Click any word to make it the center of the map and keep exploring the web of connections.

Where does hyphen come from?

The word hyphen breaks down into one root of Greek origin: the root hyph-, from Greek hypo (“under”). Explore each root to see other English words built from the same source.