Hyphenated Phrase

ValerieJane

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How would you properly hyphenate the phrase "ex best friend"? As in, a person who used to be my best friend but isn't anymore. A former best friend.

ex-best-friend?
ex-best friend?
ex best-friend?
No hyphens at all?

I'm considering using this phrase as my title, so I want to make sure I get it right for the query.

Thank you!
 

Maryn

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I am not the expert, but I got this one pretty solid.

The term "best friend" is not a hyphenate. I don't have a best friend. My best friend is my husband. Like that.

The hyphenating comes with the "ex" part. It applies to the two-word term "best friend," but if it reads clean without possibility of confusion, a lone hyphen does the trick. She was my ex-best friend.

Or you can always dodge the issue with "former."

Maryn, sneaky
 
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Chris P

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The official rule that Maryn provides a great example of is when two words are used as a compound adjective before a noun it is hyphenated.

"Ex-best friend" is correct because "ex" and "best" are used as a compound adjective modifying the noun "friend."

Other examples would be "Most-trusted news source," where "most" and "trusted" are used as a compound adjective before the noun of "news source" (okay, so "news" is technically an adjective, but here both "news" and "source" are used as one item. "Most-trusted-news source" would put the "news" part with the adjective and not the noun. There is a subtle but real difference between "most-trusted" + "news source" and "most-trusted-news" + "source").

English is a cruel language, and here if the compound adjective follows the noun, it is not hyphenated: "This news source is the most trusted." (Or, from the second example, "This is the source of the most-trusted news.")
 
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AW Admin

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Remember too that a large percentage of hyphenated words are listed in the dictionary.
 

Maryn

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Good point. While it's not the be-all and end-all of authoritative sources, plenty of publishers tell their authors to check Merriam-Webster.com for common compounds.

When I got my first professional edits, I made a long, long list of mistakes they caught. Let me share the ones about hyphenated compounds, both nouns and adjectives.

  • air-conditioning, noun
  • A-list, noun
  • beat-up, adj.
  • built-in, adj.
  • chain-link, adj.
  • close-up, noun
  • colors in compounds not hyphenated when they precede noun but are after, unless found joined in Merriam Webster, i.e. blue green water, but water is blue-green
  • e-mail, noun, verb
  • face-to-face, adj., adv.
  • fast-pitch (softball), adj.
  • flip-flop(s), noun, verb

    [*]good-bye, not goodbye

    [*]good-byes, departing words

    [*]good-looking, adj. before the noun
  • half-hearted, adj.
  • in-joke, noun
  • king-size, adj.
  • lady-killer, noun
  • mind-set, noun
  • papier-mâché, noun, adj.
  • part-time, adj.
  • ping-pong, both noun and verb for the bouncing back and forth of something
  • Ping-Pong, noun, the game of table tennis
  • self-centered, adj.
  • send-up, noun
  • six-pack, noun, adj.
  • T-shirt, noun

There, that's a bunch of looking up you won't have to do.


 

Maryn

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Good point. While it's not the be-all and end-all of authoritative sources, plenty of publishers tell their authors to check Merriam-Webster.com for common compounds.

When I got my first professional edits, I made a long, long list of mistakes they caught. Let me share the ones about hyphenated compounds, both nouns and adjectives.

  • air-conditioning, noun
  • A-list, noun
  • beat-up, adj.
  • built-in, adj.
  • chain-link, adj.
  • close-up, noun
  • colors in compounds not hyphenated when they precede noun but are after, unless found joined in Merriam Webster, i.e. blue green water, but water is blue-green
  • e-mail, noun, verb
  • face-to-face, adj., adv.
  • fast-pitch (softball), adj.
  • flip-flop(s), noun, verb
  • good-bye, not goodbye
  • good-byes, departing words
  • good-looking, adj. before the noun
  • half-hearted, adj.
  • in-joke, noun
  • king-size, adj.
  • lady-killer, noun
  • mind-set, noun
  • papier-mâché, noun, adj.
  • part-time, adj.
  • ping-pong, both noun and verb for the bouncing back and forth of something
  • Ping-Pong, noun, the game of table tennis
  • self-centered, adj.
  • send-up, noun
  • six-pack, noun, adj.
  • T-shirt, noun

There, that's a bunch of looking up you won't have to do.