Hyphens are punctuation marks that create a link between parts of the same word, or between 2 or more words that go together as a compound.

The use of hyphens varies widely and is probably the least stable aspect of written English. Australian and British English are more inclined to use hyphens than American English. American English tends to ‘set solid’ the words of a compound (ie put them together, without a space), or leave them ‘open’ (put space between them).

This section covers:

• Hyphenation tips and guidelines
• Prefixes
• Suffixes
• Hanging hyphens
• Hyphenation for line breaks.

Use of hyphens in compound words is covered in Compound words.