Hyphenlike

Hyphenlike refers to punctuation marks that resemble a hyphen in length or form but serve different grammatical or typographic purposes. These marks are distinct from the ordinary hyphen by their function and their typographic treatment in fonts and keyboards. The most common hyphenlike marks are the hyphen (used to join words or syllables), the en dash (used to indicate ranges and connections in some styles), and the em dash (used to create a strong break or parenthetical remark). Other related marks include the non-breaking hyphen (to prevent line breaks within a word), the figure dash and horizontal bar (used in numeric or stylistic contexts), and the minus sign (used in mathematical and technical contexts).

In typography and typesetting, choosing the correct mark affects readability and meaning. A hyphen is typically shorter than an en dash, which in turn is shorter than an em dash. En dashes are often used for inclusive ranges like 5–10 and for linking compound adjectives when one element already contains a hyphen, while em dashes signal abrupt interruptions or emphasis. The non-breaking hyphen prevents awkward line breaks in phrases such as state‑of‑the‑art. The minus sign is a distinct symbol, not interchangeable with a hyphen or dash, and is encoded separately in Unicode.

Usage varies by language and style guide. For plain text, many systems use the hyphen-minus character by default; professional typography recommends using typographic hyphen, en dash, or em dash as appropriate. Hyphenlike marks therefore describe a range of dash-like characters that appear similar but serve different structural roles in written text.