-

See also: :- and Appendix:Variations of "-"

- U+002D, - HYPHEN-MINUS ← , [U+002C] Basic Latin . → [U+002E]

Character variations

﹣ U+FE63, ﹣ SMALL HYPHEN-MINUS ← ﹢ [U+FE62] Small Form Variants ﹤ → [U+FE64]

－ U+FF0D, － FULLWIDTH HYPHEN-MINUS ← ， [U+FF0C] Halfwidth and Fullwidth Forms ． → [U+FF0E]

Translingual

Symbol

-

1. The hyphen-minus, a catch-all symbol for certain dash and dash-like characters.
   1. ‐ (hyphen)
   2. − (minus sign)
   3. ‒ (figure dash)
   4. – (en dash)
   5. — (em dash)
   6. ― (horizontal bar, quotation dash)
   7. (sports) A skip.

      Coordinate terms: X (fail), O (success)

   8. (bowling) A miss; no pins knocked down.
   9. (chemistry) A single bond.
   10. Used as a placeholder for a missing value (e.g. time, date, number)

Usage notes

The hyphen-minus (-) has multiple uses as a compromise introduced in the early days of fixed-width typewriters and computer displays. However, proper typesetting may require the use of more specific characters rather than the hyphen-minus. Nonetheless, the usage persists since the hyphen-minus is easy to enter on keyboards, well known, and at the same place in all common character sets.

See also

• ֊ (Armenian hyphen)

Punctuation

• apostrophe ( ' ) ( ’ )
• curly brackets or braces (US) ( { } )
• square brackets or brackets (US) ( [ ] )
• colon ( : )
• comma ( , )
• dashes ( ‒ ) ( – ) ( — ) ( ― )
• ellipsis ( … )
• exclamation mark ( ! )
• fraction slash ( ⁄ )
• guillemets ( « » ) ( ‹ › )
• hyphen ( - ) ( ‐ )
• interpunct ( · )
• interrobang (rare) ( ‽ )
• brackets or parentheses (US, Canada) ( ( ) )
• full stop or period (US, Canada) ( . )
• question mark ( ? )
• quotation marks (formal) ( ‘ ’ ‚ ) ( “ ” „ )
• quotation marks (informal, computing) ( " ) ( ' )
• semicolon ( ; )
• slash or stroke (UK) ( / )
• space ( ] [ )

Further reading

• Hyphen-minus on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Letter

1. A long signal, used to form Morse code text, together with . (a short signal).
2. Visual rendering of Morse code for T. (Latin)
3. Visual rendering of Morse code for Т. (Cyrillic)

See also

Characters in Morse code ^[edit]

.- (A)	-... (B)	-.-. (C)	-.. (D)	. (E)	..-. (F)	--. (G)	.... (H)	.. (I)
.--- (J)	-.- (K)	.-.. (L)	-- (M)	-. (N)	--- (O)	.--. (P)	--.- (Q)	.-. (R)
... (S)	- (T)	..- (U)	...- (V)	.-- (W)	-..- (X)	-.-- (Y)	--.. (Z)	----- (0)
.---- (1)	..--- (2)	...-- (3)	....- (4)	..... (5)	-.... (6)	--... (7)	---.. (8)	----. (9)
.-.-.- (.)	--..-- (,)	..--.. (?)	-.-.-- (!)	---... (:)	-.-.-. (;)	-..-. (/)	-.--. ( ( )	-.--.- ( ) )
.----. (')	.-..-. (")	-...- (=)	.-.-. (+)	-....- (-)	..--.- (_)	.-... (&)	...-..- ($)	.--.-. (@)

Finnish

Punctuation mark

-

1. Delimits parts of compound words
   1. when a part ends in the same vowel the next part starts with.

      linja + auto → linja-auto

   2. (optional) when the former part ends in a vowel and the next part starts with a vowel, to avoid ambiguity or to help readability.

      laulu + ilta → lauluilta ~ laulu-ilta (compare lauluilta (elative form))

   3. (optional) when a part ends in a consonant and the next part starts with a vowel, to avoid ambiguity or to help readability.

      punos + aita → punosaita ~ punos-aita

   4. in certain dvandva or coordinative compounds where the parts are considered 'equal'.

      parturi + kampaaja → parturi-kampaaja

   5. when at least one of the two parts
      1. contains a space (a space is written before the hyphen if the previous part contains a space, and vice versa, but not both).

         stand up + koomikko → stand up ‑koomikko

      2. is a proper noun in the nominative case (unless it has been assimilated to the point it is no longer capitalized), chiefly in words that are not themselves proper nouns.

         Suomi + kuva → Suomi-kuva

      3. (optional) is a proper noun in the genitive case (unless it has been assimilated to the point it is no longer capitalized), for clarity and to avoid ambiguity.

         Saksan + matka → Saksan-matka (“trip to Germany”) (compare Saksan matka (“trip to Germany, Germany's trip”))

      4. is an abbreviation, acronym or initialism (optional if it is the final component and spelled in lowercase).

         NATO + jäsenyys → NATO-jäsenyys

      5. is a letter, number or symbol.

         20 + -vuotias → 20-vuotias

         C + vitamiini → C-vitamiini

      6. is a particle or a word treated as such.

         ei + toivottu → ei-toivottu

      7. (in some cases) is an unadapted loanword.
2. Represents omission of repeated parts of compound words in a list ("suspended hyphen").

   syntymäaika ja ‑paikka = syntymäaika ja syntymäpaikka ― date/time (of birth) and place of birth

   mansikka-, mustikka- ja vadelmahillo = mansikkahillo, mustikkahillo ja vadelmahillo ― strawberry (jam), bilberry (jam) and raspberry jam

3. Used for hyphenation or splitting words across lines.

Usage notes

• Called yhdysmerkki, yhdysviiva or väliviiva when used in the senses related to compound words.
• Called tavuviiva when used for hyphenation.
• More properly written ‐ (U+2010 HYPHEN), but U+002D HYPHEN-MINUS is ubiquitous in the computing world.

French

Wiktionary does not have any French dictionary entry for this term. This is because the term has not yet been shown to be attested in a way that satisfies our criteria for inclusion.

Some information about this term is available in -re (-s).

You can help us collect durably archived uses of this word at Citations:-.

If this term meets our criteria for inclusion, please create an entry for it or request that it be created.

Greek

Letter

1. Visual rendering of Morse code for Τ.

Hebrew

Letter

1. Visual rendering of Morse code for ת.

Japanese

Punctuation mark

-

1. (rare) A romanization of the ー (long vowel mark).

   To-kyo-

Letter

1. Visual rendering of Morse code for ム.

Khoekhoe

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʔ/

Punctuation mark

-

1. Used to separate elements of a compound word when the second begins with an orthographic vowel (phonemic glottal stop).