biocompliant or bio-compliant

Question

My high school chemistry textbook contained the following passage (the emphasis is mine):-

The correlation between the structure and properties helps in discovering new materials such as high temperature superconductors, biocompliant polymers for packaging, ...

I wanted to know what biocomplaint meant. So I googled it and Google displayed a 'did you mean bio-complaint' suggestion. Is there any difference between the biocompliant or bio-compliant?

The general issue is addressed at When should compound words be written as one word with hyphens .... — Edwin Ashworth, Jan 13 '18 at 14:22

KarlG · Accepted Answer · 2018-01-13T14:07:38.230

1

The word biocompliant or bio-compliant is so new it hasn't even made it yet to dictionary.com.

When a new word is coined from elements previously known, it often contains a hyphen to signal the novelty. The prefix bio-, however, appears in so many new words without the hyphen, like biodegradable, that the hyphen is likely to disappear quickly as the word moves toward a more general usage. That means that both spellings will occur for a number of years. Here, for instance, is a book from 2000 that uses bio-degradable in the title.

The hyphen carries no lexical meaning; the two words are identical.

edited Jan 13 '18 at 14:07

answered Jan 13 '18 at 14:00

KarlG

28,109

'Bio compliant', the open compound, is also to be seen on the internet, but will probably soon disappear from current use. – Edwin Ashworth Jan 13 '18 at 14:20

biocompliant or bio-compliant

1 Answers1