Half-hearted or Halfhearted?

Question

I believe it is correctly written with the dash, but if someone knowledgeable could confirm that for me, I'd be most grateful.Thanks!Jazzcat

Avangi · Accepted Answer

My American Heritage has it as one word.

Best regards, - A.

(are you from NY?)

Junta-104 · Answer

Hi ,,

I have looked up in the dictionary .. and I've found both words ((with and without dash ))

I hope too ,, That Someone Else can Tell us The Diffrence Beteween These Compound Adjective ..

Jazzcat · Answer

Thanks for your replies, Avangi and Junta! I stumbled across dictionaries that touted both versions as well, so I had to post it here.

A, I'm not from New York, no... but my centaur is. Why do you ask?

Avangi · Answer

The son of a recently deceased friend has Jazzcat as his email address. He works the NY jazz scene as a trombonist.

Sorry about the elusive dash. Nobody can ever agree on the danged things!

Jazzcat · Answer

Oh, how neat! Nope, that's not me... laughs* I'm just a writer. I chose Jazzcat for similar reasons: My Dad is a jazz/blues guitarist, and he's done quite well. What a funny tradition for the kids to carry on, though! I sure chose the right screen name. *laughs

How I could wish for an off-topic smiley... Oh well.

Even though I've found dictionaries with both halfhearted and half-hearted, I'm not sure which is considered most correct. It's possible that, over time and with greater usage, halfhearted has replaced the (perhaps) earlier, dashed edition. That's only a guess, but it's happened with other common compound words!

Avangi · Answer

We deal with AmE spellings vs.BrE spellings on a daily basis (humour, etc.) but the dash/hyphen is worse.

Hope your dad is well.

Jazzcat · Answer

chuckles It IS tougher. English can be a difficult language to tangle with sometimes - then adding in the American versions versus the British versions complicates things! You must have your hands full with that. I'm currently editing a project that mixes both American and British spellings: Color and Humor, for instance, are left alone, while Grey is spelled with an E and Enamoured includes the extra British U.

And the hyphens are tricky. Most hyphenated terms are fairly easy to remember, but the rules are more vague with others. One of the more difficult ones for me is heart-wrenching, which is always spelled with a dash... I think. But I could be wrong.

My Dad is very well, yes... And - I meant to add in my last post before my brain went offline - I'm very sorry to hear about the death of your friend. I will keep the other Jazzcat in my prayers as well.

Half-hearted or Halfhearted?

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