If one wishes to add "non" in front of a hyphenated adjective, should one add a hyphen after "non?"
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3possible duplicate of How to connect a word and a phrase with a hyphen?– Edwin AshworthFeb 12, 2015 at 22:54
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1Could you please provide an example? For example "Non wind powered renewable energy" Where would you place the hyphen(s)? (I'm not even sure that makes sense, I just made it up on the spot)– Mari-Lou AFeb 13, 2015 at 0:33
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1Most writers include two hyphens in, say, non-coal-fired [power stations, etc.].– FumbleFingersFeb 13, 2015 at 13:55
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2 Answers
The Chicago Manual of Style, 14th Edition, addresses this question indirectly in section 5.117:
The en dash is also used in place of a hyphen in a compound adjective when one of the elements of the adjective is an open compound (such as New York) or when two or more of the elements are hyphenated compounds:
New York–London flight
post–Civil War period
quasi-public–quasi-judicial body
but
non-English-speaking countries
not-to-be-forgotten moments
Since your usage is of the latter form (a normally hyphenated element in front of a hyphenated compound adjective), the use of multiple hyphens is therefore recommended:
He was the only non-red-haired person in his entire family.
"non" isn't a word, so you can't write this:
non red-haired [noun]
This is less wrong, but I still don't like it:
non-red haired [noun]
We've lost the link between "red" and "haired," so someone might interpret it as "hairy [noun] which is not red."
I like this form:
non-red-haired [noun]
In this case, it's clear we're negating the entire adjective rather than just the color.
