En (typography)
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An en (from English
The en dash (–) and en space ( ) are each one en wide. In English, the en dash is commonly used for inclusive ranges (e.g., "pages 12–17" or "August 7, 1988 – November 26, 2005"), to connect prefixes to open compounds (e.g., "pre–World War II"). [3]
The en-dash is also increasingly used to replace the long dash ("—", also called an em dash or em rule). When using it to replace a long dash, spaces are needed either side of it – like so. This is standard practice in the German language, where the hyphen is the only dash without spaces on either side (line breaks are not spaces per se).[citation needed]
History
Some sources claim the term "en" was derived from the letter "n", which is roughly half the width of the letter "m." This etymology, however, is disputed.[4]
Beginning in the late 18th century,
Associated symbols
ensp and ndash. Encodings:
- en space: U+2002 EN SPACE (  ·   ·  )
- en dash: U+2013 – EN DASH (– · – · –)[6]
See also
References
- ^ ISBN 978-0-8108-3922-9. Retrieved 18 March 2023.
- ^ Southward, John (1911). Practical Printing: A Handbook to the Art of Typography. Retrieved 18 March 2023.
- ^ "Hyphens, En Dashes, Em Dashes". Chicago Manual of Style. Retrieved 18 March 2023.
- ^ Blokland, Frank E. "em and en squares". lettermodel.org. Retrieved 18 March 2023.
- ^ Gaskell, Philip. A New Introduction to Bibliography.
- ^ "General Punctuation". Codepoints.net. Retrieved 18 March 2023.