I know "a 5-month-old baby" is the correct way to hyphenate things, but what if I have to add a en-dash range?
"A 3–5-month-old baby" would logically be the correct solution, but it looks clunky?
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Sign up to join this communityThe problem of mixing hyphens and dashes can be avoided with
A 3- to 5-month-old baby"
As Edwin Ashworth mentions, the use is called a suspended hyphen.
3-
because that is usually the way an incomplete hyphenated phrase is done, as in say "three- or four-score". OTOH I might be confused when reading "3 to 5 month-old baby" thinking it meant to say "3 to 5 month-old babies".