Hyphens, En Dashes, and Em Dashes have been around for quite some time, but contemporary writers are not always sure how they should be used or what the difference is between them.
Are These Really That Different?
They are! Despite their having been around for a long time, many people today are not familiar with their use for one main reason: the typewriter.
Space limitations on the typewriter meant that not every character could be represented. Some characters had to do double duty:
- The numeral l was provided by the lowercase l
- The exclamation point ! was provided by the . and then backspacing to type ‘
- The en and em dashes were made by typing the hyphen – twice (- -) and three times (- – -)1I once knew someone who wanted to call her band “Em Dash and the Triple Proxy Hyphens”

But because there was only one – key on the keyboard, the differences in the usages of hyphens, en dashes, and em dashes were lost. Our modern computer keyboards still lack these symbols as separate characters, and although there are some workarounds (such as typing two hyphens in rapid succession to produce an em dash or using ALT codes), our general familiarity with these symbols and their use remains lacking.
Fortunately, we’re here to help.
Continue reading “Hyphens, En Dashes, and Em Dashes: What’s the Difference Between -, –, and —?”