which is more correct or more frequently used? Nonionic or non-ionic (polymers)? It´s for an academic presentation.
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2Have you checked your style guide? (It's very relevant since some style guides specify how certain expressions should be written or which dictionary you should use to help spell words.)– Laurel ♦Commented Jul 24, 2018 at 23:01
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Similar: Can there be a hyphen in “nonlinear”?– herissonCommented Jul 25, 2018 at 4:09
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1Even if the answer isn't in a journal style guide (seems unlikely @Laurel). just download pdf articles from the journal you wish to publish in and search them for nonionic and non-ionic. Either go with the majority or if there is a split, make your own choice, perhaps on your respect for the authors.– DavidCommented Jul 25, 2018 at 4:33
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Possible duplicate of Can there be a hyphen in "nonlinear"?– JMPCommented Jul 25, 2018 at 6:39
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2 Answers
It would appear that nonionic is more common than non-ionic according to Google's ngrams:
answered Jul 25, 2018 at 0:01
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1Interesting, and you answered the question in a way, but as a practicing and publishing scientist I would always write non-ionic (e.g. detergent) in a biological science journal. So the advice in the comment — to check the usage in your field — would seem to be more pertintent. Google ngram checks books, not scientific journals.– DavidCommented Jul 25, 2018 at 4:30
Merriam-Webster spells it in the closed-form nonionic.
On the other hand, Oxford spells it in the hyphenated form non-ionic, while also providing the closed-form nonionic as being US English.
So, if you go by the dictionaries (or by a style guide that says to use a regional dictionary), use nonionic for a US audience and non-ionic for a UK audience.
Having said that, although the British corpus on Google Books Ngram Viewer shows that non-ionic is slightly more common in print in general, between 1989 and 1998 (for some reason), nonionic was actually used more often.
answered Jul 25, 2018 at 4:02
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As a scientist I would give no credence to the 89-98 results. You'd need to look at examples to find out what is causeing the obvious anomaly.– DavidCommented Jul 25, 2018 at 4:35