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hyphen

/ˈhaɪ̯.f(ə̯)n̩/ noun

In Latin: virgula Wiktionary

noun Definition from WordNet 3.1, Princeton University. Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about hyphen at Wordnik → Where our words come from →

  1. A punctuation mark (-) used between parts of a compound word or between the syllables of a word when the word is divided at the end of a line of text.

verb

  1. Divide or connect with a hyphen.
    hyphenate these words and names

Origin

Learned borrowing from Late Latin hyphen, from Ancient Greek ῠ̔φέν (hŭphén, “in one, as a single word”), univerbation of ῠ̔φ’ ἕν (hŭph’ hén, “under one”), from ῠ̔πο- (hŭpo-, “under”) + ἕν (hén, “one”), neuter of εἷς (heîs, “one”).

From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)