Hyphenation in X year old person

Question

The thirty-five-year-old patient

Is that correct?

Or one of

The thirty five-year old patient

The thirty-five-year old patient

The thirty-five year-old patient

The thirty five year old patient

etc.

What's the correct way to hyphenate phrases like this?

Also, the Wikipedia article on the hyphen has the example 'twenty-eight-year-old woman' (in the section on compound modifiers). — Edwin Ashworth, Jan 26 '18 at 10:11

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Jan 26 '18 at 09:34

1

Numbers such as thirty-five are hyphenated.

When used attributively or as a noun, x-year-old is hyphenated.

Therefore, a thirty-five-year-old patient is thus hyphenated, but

The patient was thirty-five years old.

answered Jan 26 '18 at 09:34

KarlG

The over-prescriptive answer at the duplicate at least added supporting evidence from CMoS. I'll be back. – Edwin Ashworth Jan 26 '18 at 09:45
The answer by @KarlG is correct. I would add a contrasting example with 'x-year-old' being used as a noun, e.g. "The patient was a thirty-five-year-old. – Ross Murray Jan 26 '18 at 09:49
2

Ultimately what is "correct" and what isn't could vary by style guide, where you live, personal choice etc. All I can say is that, as one who has completed a humanities degree at a British university within the last ten years, your choice would be my own personal preference. – WS2 Jan 26 '18 at 09:59

1 Answers1