hyphenation

the word 'hyphenation' is a modern english formation built upon the older word 'hyphen'. 'hyphen' itself entered english in the early 17th century from late latin 'hyphen', which was borrowed from greek 'hyphén', meaning "together". the greek term was originally an adverb used by grammarians to indicate that two elements should be joined. the english suffix '-ation', of latin origin, was then appended to create a noun denoting the process or result of using a hyphen. thus, the literal construction "the act of bringing together with a hyphen" logically evolved into the modern technical term for word division at the end of a line.

Structure: hyphen + ation hyphen: from greek, via latin, meaning "together". in this word, it functions as the base meaning "hyphen". ation: from latin, a noun-forming suffix indicating an action, process, or result.