Vocabulary
In word hyphenation, words that no longer fit at the end of a line of text, or would fall partially outside the typesetting area, are divided. This allows part of the word to still be placed at the end of the line. The remaining part (and the continuation of the text) continues at the beginning of the next line.
For the sake of readability, a hyphenated word is announced by placing a hyphen after the first part, that is, at the end of the line. The short dash is usually called hyphen or hyphenation mark in such usage.
Because of this same legibility, words may only be hyphenated at the transition between two syllables. Some special preference rules still apply here. For example, compounds are hyphenated by hyphenating between the words that make up the compound and there are separate rules regarding certain suffixes (such as -ig and -like).
The purpose of hyphenation is to use the available typesetting width more effectively. Separating syllables saves paper when printing a text and creates a quieter image. The longer the hyphenated word, the more white space is avoided at the end of the line. Or for expanded lines, the less unnecessary white space needs to be added between words.
Certain programs, including modern web browsers and word processors such as Microsoft Word, are capable of automatically hyphenating words in appropriate places. To correctly apply the spelling rules for hyphenating words have dictionaries and/or built-in knowledge regarding syllables and the applicable hyphenation rules for supported languages.
The English term for word hyphenation is hyphenation. The English word for hyphenation is hyphen.