Definition: A hyphen is a short punctuation mark used to join words (such as well-read or jack-of-all-trades) and to separate syllables of a single word or the characters in a telephone number (123-555-0123).
Hyphenation is the use of hyphens. Some software programs including word processing and page layout software have automatic hyphenation settings that break words at suitable points when they fall near the end of a line of text. Hyphens created automatically by the software are known as soft or discretionary hyphens. Plain hyphens inserted by the user are often called hard hyphens.
Also Known As: plain hyphen | dash | short dash
Examples:
The hyphen is a specific character that differs from the en dash or the em dash. Hyphens are usually shorter and thicker than the en dashes although it can vary by font and the difference may be hard to discern, depending on the font.
