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Glite Dictionary
to hyphenate

to hyphenate

8 5.0
To join or separate parts of a word with a short line
  • verb
  • /ˈhaɪfəˌneɪt/
translation icon : unir con guion
  • It's a hyphenated name.
  • hyphenated words
  • hyphenated names
  • hyphenated Americans

Examples

  • The teacher asked me to hyphenate the compound word 'mother-in-law' for clarity.

  • I'm not gonna hyphenate my name, Bob.

    You, Me and Dupree (2006)

  • Why did she keep and hyphenate both her divorced last names?

    Destination Wedding (2018)

  • You mean I'm supposed to hyphenate.

    You, Me and Dupree (2006)

  • This is the twenty-first century, I always wanna hyphenate my name.

    The Twilight Saga: Eclipse (2010)

  • Or else you're gonna have to hyphenate.

    The Hollow (2004)

  • Immigrants need to have the desire to be Americans first, and hyphenated Americans second.

    Blog text (7)

  • Hyphenate the word.

    The Secret (2006)

  • Meanwhile, most Americans were hyphenated Americans, more or less friendly to their grandfathers, more or less committed to their manyness.

    Academic text (1990)

  • I remember writing for National History Day about Woodrow Wilson's campaign against "hyphenated Americans" (German-Americans, etc.).

    Blog text (11)

Synonyms

to hyphen
vsto hyphenate
4.2

Put a short line between two words or parts of a word

has the same meaning but is a different word form

Surface Forms

hyphenate infinitive
hyphenated past
hyphenated past participle
hyphenating present participle
hyphenates third person singular

Morphology

hyphenate = hyphen (transparent) = hyphen + ate

Standard verb formation from the noun 'hyphen' with the verbalizing suffix '-ate', producing the action 'to use a hyphen'.

Etymology

The word hyphenate comes from hyphen, the small mark used to join words, and that name originally meant 'to join together'. So to hyphenate is to put that mark between parts of a word to 'join' them or to divide them.