Hyphen

The hyphen ‐ is a <a href="/facts/Punctuation/YsE7u4W6">punctuation</a> mark used to join <a href="/facts/Word/UXNbIy5y">words</a> and to separate <a href="/facts/Syllable/Ylt7pyJe">syllables</a> of a single word. The use of hyphens is called hyphenation.
The hyphen is sometimes confused with <a href="/facts/Dash/suU2rsJa">dashes</a> (<a href="/facts/En_dash/suU2rsJa">en dash</a> –, <a href="/facts/Em_dash/suU2rsJa">em dash</a> — and others), which are wider, or with the <a href="/facts/Minus_sign/6RJD4Xt9">minus sign</a> −, which is also wider and usually drawn a little higher to match the crossbar in the <a href="/facts/Plus_sign/6RJD4Xt9">plus sign</a> +.
As an <a href="/facts/Orthography/sJPhCpsU">orthographic</a> concept, the hyphen is a single entity. In <a href="/facts/Character_encoding/ShJHIMoA">character encoding</a> for use with computers, it is represented in <a href="/facts/Unicode/DDu3MfPV">Unicode</a> by any of several <a href="/facts/Character_(computing)/X2zKLFFB">characters</a>. These include the dual-use <a href="/facts/Hyphen-minus/TnWuz7hd">hyphen-minus</a>, the <a href="/facts/Soft_hyphen/NtwVakne">soft hyphen</a>, the nonbreaking hyphen, and an unambiguous form known familiarly as the "Unicode hyphen", shown at the top of the infobox on this page. The character most often used to represent a hyphen (and the one produced by the key on a keyboard) is called the "hyphen-minus" by Unicode, deriving from the original <a href="/facts/ASCII/vGUI33Qu">ASCII</a> standard, where it was called "hyphen (minus)".

Hyphen open-in-new

Hyphen