One word or two?

[-K2-]

Unfortunately, my google-fu seems to be off today. I'm curious if two word hyphenated combinations where the second word is 'like', e.g.: tiger-like, are considered one word or two? Also, is there a rule as to when or not to hyphenate such a word using that modifier?

Thanks for the help!

K2

 

[The Judge]

Well, if they were used in a Challenge, we'd accept it as a legitimate compound adjective and therefore one word in eg "the triffid-like plant" but I've no idea if all magazines or publications with word count stipulations accept hyphenated words as one word.

You'd definitely hyphenate when using it as a compound adjective appearing before the noun -- "the frog-like amphibian" -- and off the top of my head I'd say it would be the same after the noun eg "the amphibian was frog-like". Collins online gives this:

COMBINING FORM (usually adjective noun)

-like combines with nouns to form adjectives which describe something as being similar to the thing referred to by the noun​

​

... beautiful purple-red petunia-like flowers​

... a tiny worm-like creature.​

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[Brian G Turner]

Unless you're going to make a habit of using them every sentence, I don't think they would be likely to add significantly to your word count.

 

[-K2-]

Thanks @The Judge & @Brian G Turner ; Yes, it relates to the challenge. After my edits and since we have time, I figured I'd tweak the piece to exactly 300. But, since I'm not sure how it counts, it's another one of those things I need to learn for whatever project. I've also run into inconsistencies as to how contractions 'in dialogue' are viewed (some say two words, others one), but there I'm taking the safer bet...exact count, regardless.

Thanks folks!

K2

 

[tinkerdan]

For giggles(really--giggles not googles).
I checked this in MsWord's word count and it's definitely one word. That's in case you rely on Word's word count utility; which I do.