Within a dictionary entry, the dots that break up a word are known as ‘end-of-line’ division dots. These dots indicate where the word can be broken if it doesn't fit on a line of text. Syllable breaks are shown with hyphens in the pronunciation. 🧵⬇️
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At the head of its dictionary entry, it is divided as dic·tio·nary. Can be broken at the end of the line: dic-tionary dictio-nary Can’t: d-ictionary di-ctionary dicti-onary This is mainly because they would be hard to read.
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‘Poker’ is a fun example. poker = card game poker = metal rod These words are pronounced the same \ˈpō-kər\ But they have different end-of-line division dots: po·ker = card game pok·er = metal rod
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@MerriamWebster Example of a word with division dots that don’t correspond with syllable breaks, please.
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@objkshn 'Dictionary' should be an example of this. It is 4 syllables, but has 2 division dots that break it into 3 parts.
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@MerriamWebster As a magazine copy editor, I was a bit obsessive about the line breaks and consulted M-W many times in my final read. At some point in my career I realized that my 4th grade English teacher, Winifred Wimmer, was very wrong about word divisions.
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@MerriamWebster Okay but in the image you used there are no hyphens in the pronunciation and it's making me insane.
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@MerriamWebster The b/w illustration you used doesn't have hyphens in the pronunciation. The web one does though.
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