Hyphen (-) and Hyphenation Rules

A hyphen is used to link parts of a compound word. This includes most dual heritages and all words in a compound modifier except "very" and adverbs that end in "ly".

Avoid breaking words at the line break with a hyphen.
This improves readability.
Hyphenate two or more words that precede and modify a noun as a unit (compound modifier).
Do
Enter the case-sensitive password.
Do not hyphenate a compound modifier that does not immediately precede the noun.
Do
The password is case sensitive.
Don't hyphenate -ly adjective phrases.
Do
This is a rarely used feature.
Don't
This is a rarely-used feature.
Hyphenate two words that precede and modify a noun as a unit if one of the words is a past or present participle.
Hyphenate two words that precede and modify a noun as a unit if the two modifiers are a number or single letter and a noun or participle.

Commonly hyphenated terms

The following terms are frequently used in Cengage information and follow the standard hyphenation rules.

color-coded
fill-in-the-blank
full-screen
peer-reviewed
plug-in
time-saving