Hyphens with the Prefix re
The Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation
Hyphens with the Prefix re
Many of us find hyphens confusing. The prefix re can make hyphenating even more of a head-scratching experience. However, there is really only one rule that you need to learn to determine when to hyphenate with re.
Rule: Use the hyphen with the prefix re only when re means again AND omitting the hyphen would cause confusion with another word.
Example: Will she recover from her illness?
Re does not mean again so no hyphen.
Example: I have re-covered the sofa twice.
Re does mean again AND omitting the hyphen would have caused confusion with another word so hyphenate.
Example: The stamps have been reissued.
Re means again but would not cause confusion with another word so no hyphen.
Example: I must re-press the shirt.
Re means again AND omitting the hyphen would cause confusion with another word so hyphenate.
Pop Quiz
Select the correct answer:
1A. Please call the restaurant to reserve a table.
1B. Please call the restaurant to re-serve a table.
1C. Please call the restaurant to re serve a table.
2A. I resent the file to you last night.
2B. I re-sent the file to you last night.
2C. I re sent the file to you last night.
3A. I’ll print out the letters again, and you can resign them.
3B. I’ll print out the letters again, and you can re-sign them.
3C. I’ll print out the letters again, and you can re sign them.
Answers:
1A. Please call the restaurant to reserve a table.
2B. I re-sent the file to you last night.
3B. I’ll print out the letters again, and you can re-sign them.
If the article or the existing discussions do not address a thought or question you have on the subject, please use the "Comment" box at the bottom of this page.
Can anyone help us solve a raging debate at our company relating to hyphens?
Do we use toll free conference calling OR toll-free conference calling?
toll-free conference calling
“Toll-free” is acting as one idea in front of another adjective.
So useful, thanks!
You are welcome.
What about rerule? Is that even a word? or should it be Re-Rule? having a fight in scrabble!
Thanks
None of the dictionaries that we have consulted list it as a word in the English language.
I do not agree with the given answer on number 9 in the quiz: reinjured vs. re-injured. Upon initially reading the word “reinjured”, it COULD be misconstrued as “rein”; I think here, it is appropriate to put the hyphen after “re-“.
Even if misconstrued as “rein,” it still would not form another word. Reinjured is a valid word which you can find listed as a “related form” to injure on Dictionary.com as well as in The Official Scrabble Players Dictionary.
Is it reintegration or re-integration? If it’s hyphenated, is the ‘i’ capitalized or not?
The word reintegration does not have a hyphen.
Would you be able to help clarify the following :
1.reopen or re-open.
2.recontract or re-contract.
3.rehire or re-hire.
Hope to hear from you soon.
Thank you.
Use the hyphen with the prefix re only when re means again and omitting the hyphen would cause confusion with another word. Since there is no possible confusion, a hyphen is not necessary in any of your words.
Which is correct in English. 1. The school will re-open on 29th May. 2. The school will reopen on 29th May.
The following are correct:
The school will reopen on the 29th of May. OR The school will reopen on May 29. Please see our post Writing Dates and Times.
re-x-raying or re-xraying or re x-raying?
I’m a court reporter and we get it all. LOL
We recommend hyphenating prefixes any time they might be distracting or confusing without the hyphen. Some sources prefer a capital X. Therefore, you may write “re-x-raying.” or “re-X-raying.” “X-ray again” might be an even better choice of words when rewriting can be an option.
Rewriting is not an option as a court reporter. Their job is to take down everything said, verbatim.
Could you help me check if my use of ‘re’ is correct in this sentence?
“The sequential approach to direction setting, re-engineering operations, rewriting job descriptions, competences and roles, training people, and communicating changes internally and externally carries the risk of being slow, sterile and rigid.”
It is particularly re-engineering and rewriting.
Thank you.
We’re glad you’re asking us to comment only on the use of the prefix re- in your sentence. Your spelling of both words is fine.
I came to this page while searching for the correct spelling for redeliver. I thought your rule was excellent, until I read your reply to Araz on November 28, 2013. Why would you use the hyphen in re-engineering? There is no confusion with another word. Is it due to the double “e” introduced with the prefix? Does this also apply to other instances; like re-elect, re-enact, etc.? If so, should your rule have the caveat that prefixing re to words beginning with “e” should be hyphenated?
Excellent website.
The eleventh edition of The Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation (February 2014) recognizes that there is not always agreement among the authoritative references on many of the “rules” of grammar and punctuation. In the eleventh edition, we have included Rule 2 of Hyphens with Prefixes and Suffixes: “For clarity, many writers hyphenate prefixes ending in a vowel when the root word begins with the same letter.” The Associated Press Stylebook demands it: “use a hyphen if the prefix ends in a vowel and the word that follows begins with the same vowel.”
What about reselect? It means select again so should it be re-select?
OED seems to suggest reselect
Omitting the hyphen does not cause confusion with another word. Therefore, write reselect.
I’m a technical writer/editor and often find the first word in a sentence is a hyphenated word. Ex: Re-Enter your password in the….” I was always taught that if the first part is hyphenated, so is the second part, but more and more, I’m seeing it as “Re-enter your password…”
Which is correct?
We assume your question has to do with the capitalization after the hyphen. “Re-enter your password” is correct. Unless it is a hyphenated compound in a title, only proper nouns or proper adjectives are capitalized after the hyphen, as in words such as trans-American or mid-July.
I just got introduced to that rule. Does this imply the terms “reuse” “recreate” “repurpose” “recycle” are not correct? Should I be hyphenating them all? What about “replay” and “reward”? I am confused now. Help, please.
The rule says to use a hyphen when “omitting the hyphen would cause confusion with another word.” Only one of the words on your list is likely to be confused with other words: “recreate” vs. “re-create.” Therefore, “re-create” requires a hyphen when used to mean create again.
It puzzles me a little. What would be the difference between “recreate” and “re-create” after all?
Cambridge dictionary defines “recreate” as “create again” as well. Do I miss something?
Thank you!
The word with no hyphen means “to take recreation.” With a hyphen it means “to create again; reproduce; re-enact.”
Ah, but here you have “re-enact” and I don’t think reenact would be confusing. So is there another exception when the root begins with e?
Our Rule 3 of Hyphens with Prefixes and Suffixes says, “For clarity, many writers hyphenate prefixes ending in a vowel when the root word begins with the same letter.”
Surely reward is also confusing: reward (a thing given in recognition of service, effort, or achievement) versus re-ward (to reapply a guard or protection; or to readmit a patient to a hospital).
We recommend writing re-ward if you find it necessary to use this word to mean “once again guard, protect, or place in a hospital ward.”
Ok, say a store has been remodeling and never closed. They’re preparing for…
Grand Re-Opening?
Re-Grand Opening?
Grand reopening
Write “grand reopening.”
I’ve got a question about verb “re-login” meaning “login again” (like to a web-site). Is hyphen necessary here?
I noticed that they tend to use hyphen over the Internet, but I didn’t find any possible meaning of “relogin” to be confused with. How does the rule apply here?
Usually login is used as a noun and log in is the verb form. The Chicago Manual of Style recommends using a hyphen before a compound term, therefore write re-log in.
Is the “re” in restaurant considered a prefix?
No.
What is the correct way to write “re-employment” if you have worked with a company in the past and you are looking to work at that company again? Should it have a hypenated or not?
There is nothing wrong with writing reemployment, although most periodicals would hyphenate: re-employment. You could also use an umlaut over the second e.
Is this grammatically correct:
RE meaning AGAIN or not confused with another word.
Chelsea, your eyeliner is smudged, can you re-apply your eye makeup ?
The rule says to use a hyphen when “omitting the hyphen would cause confusion with another word.” There is no confusion, therefore do not use a hyphen. The space before the question mark is also unnecessary. And your example is a run-on sentence. Replace the comma with a period.
Chelsea, your eyeliner is smudged. Can you reapply your eye makeup?
Now, 11 months later, it is slowly beginning to re-open/reopen in spite of police officials patrolling the area.
Is it re-open or reopen?
Please see our response to Tan Beng Hoon of August 2, 2013.
Hyphen or no hyphen?
Readdress or re-address
Ex: The court should readdress the issue.
Since re does not cause confusion with another word, do not use a hyphen.
re-address. Without hyphen it can be confusing for not-so-proficient readers. is it a typo in redress, is it a missing space in read dress
As the post states, the hyphen is used with the prefix when re means again AND omitting the hyphen would cause confusion with another English word. When in doubt, refer to a dictionary. The leading dictionaries do not hyphenate readdress.
I love your blog, and articles. The subjects have always confused me. A good example of confusion for me was the use of a comma after”and”.
The above article has still left me confused. I have always wondered about using a hyphen after “re”. I am currently writing a word document and, finally decided to look it up. (So thankful YOU came up in my Google search)
Questioning myself each time, my conclusion has always been to add the hyphen if “re” preceded a vowel.
The combination of vowels in this instance still confuses me. I am sure it stems from the phonetic rule of when there is a double vowel, the first becomes silent making the second a long vowel. (a long vowel is the letter sounding like it does when saying the alphabet)
My understanding of phonics is, admittedly, very limited. In school, to long ago, site reading was taught along with only the absolute basics of phonics (a poor decision in my opinion)
In most cases, the vowel after the “re” is short, resulting in a change in sound. A good example would be the explanation of “reintegration” above. My understanding would be that the sounds would change to “rintergration”, with the “e” silent, and “i” to become long.
I have never questioned hyphenating a double “e” though, simply because it always looks just plain wrong.
Could you please clarify this for me? I may be older, but am still learning.
If the prefix ends in the same vowel that the root word starts with, many, but not all, editors separate them with a hyphen.The best policy is to look up the word in question. If you cannot find it listed anywhere, hyphenate only if you feel the reader would struggle with it otherwise.
According to your rules and my personal preference, one would write rereferral rather than re-referral for the act of referring again. However, in an internet search one finds re-referral more often than rereferral. Is it valid to insert a hyphen when the prefix re- is immediately followed by a second occurrence of re (which, etymologically speaking, is itself an instance of the re- prefix)?
My own hypothesis about why people nowadays tend to insert a hyphen into rereferral and many other words with prefixes is that most spell checkers (such as those in Microsoft Word, internet browsers, etc.) flag the unhyphenated word as a spelling error but accept the hyphenated version.
The Chicago Manual of Style‘s hyphenation guide says a hyphen should appear “to separate the repeated terms in a double prefix, such as sub-subentry.” Therefore, it seems that a hyphen could be acceptable in the word re-referral, even though it is technically not a double prefix. We would recommend a hyphen in accordance with our Rule 6 of Hyphens with Prefixes and Suffixes: “Writers often hyphenate prefixes when they feel a word might be distracting or confusing without the hyphen.”
Just wondering about the word reinterview. The sentence used is, “Do I have to reinterview for the position if I already have the job?” Should reinterview be hyphenated?
No hyphen is required.
I had a game of scrabble where I used all the letters I had across two triple word scores. A nice high score. The person I was playing with refused to allow it because he said the re was hyphenated. I said that it was constructed following the rules in the OED. We argued for a long time then abandoned the game. The word was redepute as in to depute again. What is your opinion?
We were unable to find redpute or re-depute in any of the dictionaries we checked. Considering our rules for the prefix re, we see no reason to use a hyphen.
Does this site help fix sentence such as grammar and punctuation
This site provides information, guidance, rules, and quizzes, so that you can gain the skills and knowledge to fix the grammar and punctuation issues in your sentences on your own.
Is it repurpose or re-purpose?
Repurpose is correct.
Just want to say thanks for this awesome rule, and I commend your patience over the years on this article.
Is it re-branding or rebranding?
Thanks.
We see no reason to use a hyphen.
reinspected or re-inspected
I’m using in the following sentence:
Enclosed are the following documents for the reinspected pre-acceptance sanitary sewer CCTV inspection performed on Month xx, 2017, for the above-referenced project:
We recommend reinspected.
Re-imagine OR reimagine? Your spell check says the former…
In accordance with this post and our Rules 3 and 5 of Hyphens with Prefixes and Suffixes, we would not hyphenate the word reimagine. Both the Associated Press Stylebook and Merriam-Webster omit the hyphen.
The spell checker that you refer to is an advertiser, which we feel is one of the better spell checkers available. However, we do caution against using any spell or grammar checking tools as a single resource.
Is it re-review or rereview?
rereview
What about re-alignment? Is it realignment or re-alignment?
realignment
reenter vs. re-enter
Our Rule 3 of Hyphens with Prefixes and Suffixes says, “For clarity, many writers hyphenate prefixes ending in a vowel when the root word begins with the same letter.” Therefore, we recommend re-enter to avoid confusion over the odd-looking reenter.
I am writing student reports. Do I need a hyphen when I write the word reread?
E.g., “She needs to reread/re-read the text for greater meaning.”
Since re does not cause confusion with another word, we see no reason to use a hyphen.
Does re-inspection require a hyphen?
Please see our reply of July 2, 2017, to Heather.
I have seen the word reenter and re-enter, which is correct? Can both be correct? Which is better?
Please see our December 7, 2018, reply to Bree.
rebookings or re-bookings?
Since re does not cause confusion with another word, we see no reason to use a hyphen.
Re-cently I re-read the re-peated, re-stated, and re-applied rules re-garding “re-” and “re”. Re-calculating, I re-ally re-considered re-educating myself by re-viewing re-viewers’ re-cognized re-nditions of said re-peated rules. Re-cognizing my own re-organized priorities re-garding re-enacting re-sponses to re-peated rules, I re-calculated my re-asoning. I now re-alize that “re-” is not re-ally as re-usable or re-gular as I once re-membered.
Review in MS Word: 12 errors
Review in Google Docs: 18 errors
My review (thanks to my understanding of your rule): 26 errors (re-educating and re-enacting are accepted)
That’s an interesting observation of the difference between Word and Google Docs (we agree with your count, by the way). Of course, many of your re occurrences are not prefixes.
Can anyone tell me whether or no preauricular is hyphenated?
It is not hyphenated.
Re-certification or recertification?
Since re does not cause confusion with another word, we see no reason to use a hyphen.
If someone is do a re-assessment course. Would it be re-assessment or reassessment?
Omitting the hyphen does not cause confusion with another word. Therefore, write reassessment.
I want to use the word Retreat as a product name. I currently have it on my website with a colon, but I don’t think that’s correct. The idea is to be able to “add your own “RE” word” to suit your needs. Come to a RE-treat so you can RE-evaluate your path, RE-connect with your inner happy self, RE-design your life. Not a typical use of “re” let alone with the words that follow, but I’m trying to find the iteration that suits most and seems the most clear. I’m guessing that’s not with a colon.
We’re unclear whether you mean “colon” or “hyphen.” As you probably know, the words retreat, reconnect, and redesign are spelled without a hyphen, while some use a hyphen in reevaluate. You may choose to spell a product name without regard to grammar rules. That is your choice. You could also mix in upper case letters with or without hyphens or colons as you indicated: REtreat, RE-connect, RE:design, etc.
Is it correct to write Squad car 1 return to base re – patrol in the northeastern area?
We would write repatrol.
Reset or Re-set?
Since re does not cause confusion with another word, the hyphen is not necessary.
Which is correct: reimagining, re-imagining, or re-imagining?
Please see our reply of May 8, 2018, to Shari.
Another Scrabble fight! I refuse to “speak” American and therefore believe that the word reposted must be written with a hyphen, since it refers to an action being undertaken again. However, the Scrabble Dictionary apparently accepts reposted without the hyphen – whereas I would then pronounce it as reposted (even tho’ it would obviously be spelled as riposted). But then I suppose if the Scrabble Dictionary allows words like “za” (ridiculous!) and “el” (something to do with American railroads!), then we poor old dinosaurs who actually call themselves Philologists need to lie down and die! Since my surname is hyphenated, I shall cling on to the hyphen to the bitter end!
In our Rule 5 of Hyphens with Prefixes and Suffixes, we emphasize that a hyphen is needed with the prefix re when it causes confusion with another word. To us, it does not cause confusion with another word, and it is commonly used in relation to messages that are reposted online. In additon, our Rule 6 reads “Writers often hyphenate prefixes when they feel a word might be distracting or confusing without the hyphen.” Therefore, if it will spare you from lying down and dying, please insert the hyphen when you write the word.
I’m responding as both an experienced competitive Scrabble player and someone who writes technical documentation professionally.
While this is something like a Scrabble fight, it is not about speaking “American.” If you look at the respective Scrabble lexicons for (broadly speaking) North America and the “rest of the world,” you will find many more “ridiculous” words in the latter. Both have the words you mention — “za” and “el” — as well as “qi,” “mm,” and “pht,” to name but a few. But only the Collins “rest of the world” dictionary includes such lovelies as “ch,” “io,” “twp,” and “pwn.”
All of this, however, reinforces your main premise: Do not use either Scrabble dictionary as an arbiter of good language.
Reenable or re-enable?
Our Rule 3 of Hyphens with Prefixes and Suffixes says, “For clarity, many writers hyphenate prefixes ending in a vowel when the root word begins with the same letter.” Therefore, if you are unable to find the word in a dictionary, then it is your call as to whether you feel the word would be understood more clearly in context with or without the hyphen.
How would you handle “enter again”? Would it be reenter or re-enter, and why?
Thanks!
Please see our December 7, 2018, response to Bree.
In the Collins English dictionary, re-home is hyphenated but retrain isn’t… why is this please? I am writing an article with both words in it and am confused as to whether they should be hyphenated or not.
As a website specializing in American English, we cannot speak for Collins Dictionary (a British English dictionary). Sometimes there are no absolute rules to follow in every instance. As we mention in our Rule 6 of Hyphens Between Prefixes and Suffixes, “Writers often hyphenate prefixes when they feel a word might be distracting or confusing without the hyphen.” The editors at Collins may have felt that “re-home” needed a hyphen because “home” is not typically understood or interpreted as a verb, where “train” often can be.
Re-enrollment or Reenrollment?
I just think the latter, while not being necessarily confused with another word, is just visually unappealing and slightly difficult to read…and the first word makes it clear that you’re being asked to enroll again.
Our Rule 3 of Hyphen Rules with Prefixes says, ” For clarity, many writers hyphenate prefixes ending in a vowel when the root word begins with the same letter.”