Non-Breaking Hyphen ‑

‑ (U+2011) is a standard Unicode character that you can copy and paste anywhere text is accepted. This page provides a concise reference with safe tips, internal links, and practical guidance so you can use it reliably across apps and platforms.

What it is and where it’s used: Non-Breaking Hyphen is part of the Symbols family (block: General Punctuation). If you need styled or decorative alternatives, try our Fancy Text tool to generate compatible text that works in most modern interfaces.

History & usage: Non-breaking hyphen is a punctuation mark used to link words at line breaks. In many fonts it looks like a standard hyphen but it prevents the break. History shows typographers added it to keep words together in narrow columns. It is part of General Punctuation. It is useful in compound words and in some languages where a break would change meaning. The non-breaking hyphen is distinct from a hyphen used to join words without keeping the break. Writers choose it to control line wrapping in text, lists, and headings. In early typography, manual line breaking made this mark common in newspapers and books. With digital text, editors set this character with a non-breaking space or a style rule. Different style guides set different rules for when to use it. Some locales prefer it for words that should stay connected at line ends. Others use word wrapping without a special mark. In practice, the decision depends on the style and the locale. Overall, the non-breaking hyphen helps to keep meaning clear and lines neat without adding extra space.

Copy and input: the quickest method is to copy the character here. You can also insert it by its codepoint U+2011 in many development tools or editors. Some operating systems provide a character viewer or input palette that lets you search by name or code and insert the glyph into documents.

Display and fallback: if you see an empty box (tofu) or a placeholder rectangle, the active font might not include this codepoint. Switching to a font with broader Unicode coverage or using a fallback font usually fixes the issue. On the web, ensure the page’s font stack includes a general‑purpose fallback.

Related references: browse the Categories for similar characters. When choosing a symbol, prefer the official codepoint for semantic clarity and better compatibility with search, copy, and accessibility tooling.

See our category page for related symbols.