I have a hyphenation problem. I thought I understood the rule of when to insert a hyphen, but it's a term used so inconsistently I can't be sure. For for the sake of this question, I will write the word hyphenated even though I am not entirely sure. The word is:
micro-endoscope
I see it written as:
- micro-endoscope (which I favour because micro is a qualifier that is pertinent to describing what kind of endoscope it is)
- microendoscope (then again this could be valid, because micrometer isn't hyphenated, and micro is still a qualifier...)
- micro endoscope (I personally doubt this is correct)
And most frustratingly, I see all three used even in a single paper, which to me is sloppy. Unless there a grammatical use rule I am missing that describes when a word like this is hyphenated...