Etymology

hyphenate

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Today it means: 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. Full definition →

English hyphen ← Late Latin hyphen ← Ancient Greek ῠ̔φέν (hŭphén)
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hyphenate · verb1

  1. Proto-Indo-European*upó
  2. Ancient Greekῠ̔πό (hŭpó)
  3. Ancient Greekῠ̔πο- (hŭpo-)
  4. Proto-Indo-European*sem-
  5. Proto-Indo-European*sḗm
  6. Proto-Indo-European*séms
  7. Proto-Hellenic*hens
  8. Ancient Greekεἷς, μῐ́ᾰ, ἕν (heîs, mĭ́ă, hén)
  9. Ancient Greekῠ̔φ’ ἕν (hŭph’ hén)
  10. Ancient Greekῠ̔φέν (hŭphén)
  11. Late Latinhyphen
  12. Englishhyphen
  13. English todayhyphenate

From hyphen + -ate (verb-forming suffix).

hyphenate · noun2

  1. Proto-Indo-European*upó
  2. Ancient Greekῠ̔πό (hŭpó)
  3. Ancient Greekῠ̔πο- (hŭpo-)
  4. Proto-Indo-European*sem-
  5. Proto-Indo-European*sḗm
  6. Proto-Indo-European*séms
  7. Proto-Hellenic*hens
  8. Ancient Greekεἷς, μῐ́ᾰ, ἕν (heîs, mĭ́ă, hén)
  9. Ancient Greekῠ̔φ’ ἕν (hŭph’ hén)
  10. Ancient Greekῠ̔φέν (hŭphén)
  11. Late Latinhyphen
  12. Englishhyphen
  13. English todayhyphenate

From hyphen + -ate (noun-forming suffix).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.