Tell me more ×
English Language & Usage Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for linguists, etymologists, and serious English language enthusiasts. It's 100% free, no registration required.
up vote 4 down vote favorite
1

I'm speaking of the noun having to do with an interval of time.

I need this for programming purposes and it appears some people use "time span" and others "timespan" so I assume both are correct.

share|improve this question
1  
Haha I went with the word "interval" instead as that is the preferred word in Java. – Adam Gent Jul 17 '12 at 20:17

4 Answers

up vote 3 down vote accepted

Merriam-Webster doesn't have an entry for timespan. Time span is correct, as you are referring to a span of time. I could see the argument for both being correct, though, as many other "Y of X" are converted into single word XY in english.

For programmers, timespan is used because spaces are not allowed in many places. If you are speaking to programers, timespan will be understood.

share|improve this answer
up vote 1 down vote

Timespan is a word, but you're most likely talking to people who are used to the System.Timespan stucture or something similar.

share|improve this answer
up vote 1 down vote

In "New Oxford Dictionary for Writers and Editors" I read (p. 386):

"time span", two words.

share|improve this answer
up vote 1 down vote

NGram shows that time span is used far more.

enter image description here

share|improve this answer
1  
Yes, but a significant proportion of the two-word instances are in fact hyphenated - a standard intermediate step when a word-pair is heading for single-word status. Personally, I'd normally have written it as two words 30 years ago. But today I'd always write it as one word (as with timeframe). – FumbleFingers Jul 17 '12 at 21:16

Your Answer

 
discard

By posting your answer, you agree to the privacy policy and terms of service.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.