hyphenate

C2+ Topic:Actions & Processes

US /ˈhaɪfəˌneɪt/ UK /ˈhaɪfəˌneɪt/ See IPA manual

Meanings

1

verb
to join or divide with a hyphen

You should hyphenate compound adjectives that precede a noun.

Verb forms

Verb forms are not available for this word yet.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 verb · to join or divide with a... hyphen

Word family

Derived forms hyphenationhyphenated

Related forms hyphen

Etymology

From hyphen + -ate, from Late Latin hyphen, from Ancient Greek hyphen ('together, in one'), from hypo ('under') + hen ('one').

hyphen Ancient Greek

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Actions & Processes Word Formation & Derivatives

External links

# hyphenate

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** verb
**IPA (US):** /ˈhaɪfəˌneɪt/
**IPA (UK):** /ˈhaɪfəˌneɪt/

## Meanings
1. to join or divide with a hyphen

## Examples
- You should hyphenate compound adjectives that precede a noun.

## Synonyms
- hyphen

## Derived Forms
- hyphenation
- hyphenated

## Related Forms
- hyphen

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: hyphen

## Etymology
From hyphen + -ate, from Late Latin hyphen, from Ancient Greek hyphen ('together, in one'), from hypo ('under') + hen ('one').

## AI Etymology
hyphenate comes from hyphen + -ate, from Late Latin hyphen, from Ancient Greek hyphen ('together, in one'), from hypo ('under') + hen ('one'). Morphologically, the ending is part of the etymology: the suffix is attached to the older base named in the history, producing a later English derivative. In present English, the verb sense is "to join or divide with a hyphen", so the historical development ends in a clearly identifiable modern dictionary use. The same base also appears in related forms such as hyphen, and in derivatives such as hyphenation and hyphenated. Its semantic neighborhood includes hyphen, which helps locate the modern sense without adding a separate etymological claim. The named historical forms include Ancient Greek hyphen.

## Topics
- Actions & Processes
- Word Formation & Derivatives

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