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The following compound modifiers are always hyphenated when they are not written as one word: An adjective preceding a noun to which -d or -ed has been added as a past-participle construction, used before a noun: "loud-mouthed hooligan" "middle-aged lady" "rose-tinted glasses" A noun, adjective, or adverb preceding a present participle:
daily regimen) (darker than [comparative]) (DC, direct current) (de rigueur) death knell (deciding how) (deep-seated) (kelvins) (depending on) (depending on whom you)
Hyphens are used in this way to prevent confusion; without their use, a reader might interpret the words separately, rather than as a phrase. Hyphens join the relevant words into a single idea, a compound adjective. A compound modifier that is spaced rather than hyphenated is referred to as an open compound. [2]
merging into one word without an intermediate space, e.g. Budapest; standing apart, e.g. Papua New Guinea; conjunction by hyphenation. While English-speakers are relaxed about using a hyphen or not, this punctuation once caused controversy between Czechs and Slovaks
Surnames that are composed of more than one word, including double-barrelled surnames. There may or may not be a hyphen. There may or may not be a hyphen. The main article for this category is Compound surname .
For groups of compounds named after a simple parent compound, articles about the group should be located at the plural of the parent compound name, e.g. hydrazines, silanes, boranes, diphosphenes. Similarly, salts and esters of carboxylic acids should collectively be referred to by the plural of the carboxylate.
Note that not all combinations of two names are considered portmanteaus. Simple concatenation of two names (whether hyphenated or not) does not produce a portmanteau. Nor does a combinative form of one name plus the full name of another (examples: Eurasia, Czechoslovakia). These kinds of names are excluded from this list.
The compound must have at least two atoms, otherwise it is an element or an ion, but not a compound. (The "dictionary" being a list of compounds.) Hyphens (for single bonds) are ignored unless there is a tie. Likewise for equals signs (for double bonds) and equivalence signs (for triple bonds).