Aug 9, 2002 17:14
22 yrs ago
English term
web-something
English
Other
Linguistics
grammar
which is the correct way of spelling words with "web"?
website? web site? web-site?
webdesign? web design? web-design?
is there any general rule or tradition or...?
thanks in advance!
website? web site? web-site?
webdesign? web design? web-design?
is there any general rule or tradition or...?
thanks in advance!
Responses
5 +8 | How long is a piece of string? | Libero_Lang_Lab |
5 +1 | Is there one main stress or two? | R.J.Chadwick (X) |
4 +1 | like web browser | Clauwolf |
4 +1 | see comments | tazdog (X) |
4 | website, webdesign | nuvo |
Responses
+8
31 mins
Selected
How long is a piece of string?
Zmejka, the answer is that all of them might be acceptable for different compounds.
Internet related vocab is a classic example of how language and its orthographic representation develops to reflect the frequency of use and how established certain terms become in our daily lexicon.
There is a general trend for word formation where two words become one over time via an interim period of hyphenation!
Thus horseman probably started life as horse man and then spent a period as horse-man - do you see what I mean?
Sometimes you will find that 2 or even all three versions are acceptable usage at the same time, and that preference will vary depending on house style, geography etc.
But to be specific I would say that for the examples that you provide, the most common spellings (in the UK at least) are:
website (through frequent usage it has earned the status of a word in its own right).
web design (two words)
As for others:
webmaster (one word, a neoligism with strong precedents in words like postmaster).
Web page (two words - sometimes it is also I think to do with how well two words mesh together phonetically - b and p are awkward to pronounce in one word)
So to summarise, there is no single rule, but there are various regular factors which might influence which you choose.
Hope this helps
Internet related vocab is a classic example of how language and its orthographic representation develops to reflect the frequency of use and how established certain terms become in our daily lexicon.
There is a general trend for word formation where two words become one over time via an interim period of hyphenation!
Thus horseman probably started life as horse man and then spent a period as horse-man - do you see what I mean?
Sometimes you will find that 2 or even all three versions are acceptable usage at the same time, and that preference will vary depending on house style, geography etc.
But to be specific I would say that for the examples that you provide, the most common spellings (in the UK at least) are:
website (through frequent usage it has earned the status of a word in its own right).
web design (two words)
As for others:
webmaster (one word, a neoligism with strong precedents in words like postmaster).
Web page (two words - sometimes it is also I think to do with how well two words mesh together phonetically - b and p are awkward to pronounce in one word)
So to summarise, there is no single rule, but there are various regular factors which might influence which you choose.
Hope this helps
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer.
Comment: "Thank you very much, Dan! And thanks to the rest of you for your opinions and comments! :) "
+1
13 mins
like web browser
no hyphen, in general
Peer comment(s):
neutral |
Libero_Lang_Lab
: alas the truth is sometimes not as simple as we would like it to be,
58 mins
|
agree |
Fuad Yahya
: common looseness notwithstanding, "web site" and "web design" are still the standard. "Website" is steadily gaining ground. By my reckonning, "webdesign" is not.
1 day 5 hrs
|
22 mins
website, webdesign
Usually the two words are not separated. However, I am not sure wheteher there have been any rules for thst.
+1
36 mins
see comments
Info. from different style guides:
· Web, a proper noun (there is only one World Wide Web), so it should always be capitalized when used to refer to the whole Web.
· webmaster, not capitalized
· website, Web site, both are common, although we are leaning toward the use of "website."
http://www.lowendmac.com/styleguide/index.shtml
Web: short name for the World Wide Web; Net is the short name for the Internet
Webmaster; Web page; Web site
http://www.computer.org/author/style/vwxyz.htm#W
As far as design, I believe that “web design,” two words, is the more acceptable form
Hope it helps.
· Web, a proper noun (there is only one World Wide Web), so it should always be capitalized when used to refer to the whole Web.
· webmaster, not capitalized
· website, Web site, both are common, although we are leaning toward the use of "website."
http://www.lowendmac.com/styleguide/index.shtml
Web: short name for the World Wide Web; Net is the short name for the Internet
Webmaster; Web page; Web site
http://www.computer.org/author/style/vwxyz.htm#W
As far as design, I believe that “web design,” two words, is the more acceptable form
Hope it helps.
Reference:
Peer comment(s):
agree |
Paul Mably (X)
55 mins
|
+1
9 hrs
Is there one main stress or two?
A rule of thumb (that may not always work) is to see if the term is prounced with one main stress or two.
An everyday example might be the pair "blackbird" (the species - one main stress on the first syllable) and "black bird" (any bird of black colour -- two more or less equally stressed syllables).
The third possibility, separating the two parts of the term with a hyphen is a kind of halfway house where the two parts of the expression have not yet quite gelled into a single item.
An everyday example might be the pair "blackbird" (the species - one main stress on the first syllable) and "black bird" (any bird of black colour -- two more or less equally stressed syllables).
The third possibility, separating the two parts of the term with a hyphen is a kind of halfway house where the two parts of the expression have not yet quite gelled into a single item.
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