Definition of "hyphenate" in English

verb

1. (transitive) to break a word at the end of a line according to the hyphenation rules by adding a hyphen on the end of the line.

2. (transitive) to join words or syllables with a hyphen.

   • you have to hyphenate his surname as it's double-barrelled

noun

1. A person or object with multiple duties, abilities or characteristics, such as "writer-director", "actor-model", or "singer-songwriter".

2. A person whose ethnicity is a multi-word hyphenated term, such as "African-American".