PREFIXES
Where the prefix pre- or re- is joined to a word beginning with e, the hyphen, and not the dieresis, may be needed, as pre-exist, re-enter, re-enlist.
The hyphen should be used when the prefix comes before a consonant and forms a word similar in form to another of different signification, as in re-create or re-creation, but not in rec'reation, nor in rec'ollection. It may be used in re-form or re-formation, but not in reformation, for the word with a hyphen conveys a different meaning. The hyphen is used in pre-historic and pre-raphaelite, but not in predetermine.
The prefixes over, under, after, out, cross, and counter are usually consolidated, as in overdone, overestimate, overboard, underclothes, undertaker, underbrush, undergraduate, afterpiece, aftermath, outlook, outpour, crossexamine, crossquestion, countermarch, countercharm. When, however, these prefixes come before nouns or adjectives of two syllables they may take the hyphen, as in under-current, under-master, counter-current, over-issue, over-jealous. In some dictionaries the hyphen is authorized in under-lip, over-anxious, after-age, after-part, cross-piece, county-town, cross-section, counter-influence, but these words are oftener kept apart. Antislavery and antedate, once joined with a hyphen, are now more common as consolidated words.
