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I'm writing a text about wells, some of them are dug by hand. On the internet I see many times the term "hand dug well" is used, but also "hand-dug well" and even "handdug well" are quite frequently used.

"hand dug well", "hand-dug well" or "handdug well", which one is correct?

(spelling correctors seem not to like the last one, so I suppose it must be one of the first two options)

Sironsse
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  • Related: http://ell.stackexchange.com/questions/5540/should-i-always-use-a-hyphen-to-make-clear-what-an-attributive-describes This might also be a duplicate, but I'll wait and see what others think. – WendiKidd May 20 '13 at 20:30

1 Answers1

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The orthographic representation of collocations like this often evolve from two words (hand written) to a hyphenate (hand-written) to a single word (handwritten) as they become progressively more widely used. Attributives in particular attract the hyphen, because it helps the reader understand the syntax.

I judge it unlikely, however, that handdug will ever become common—ndd is just too bizarre in English orthography. If I saw it in isolation I would take it for Welsh!

StoneyB on hiatus
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  • The string ndd is rare, but it does occur in granddaughter and granddad. –  May 21 '13 at 02:12
  • @snailboat True; I had forgotten them, perhaps because familiar as they are they look wrong to me. I always write grand-daughter (I don't think I've ever had occasion to write the other in any manner). – StoneyB on hiatus May 21 '13 at 02:19