What does emdash mean?
An emdash is a punctuation mark — rendered as — — approximately the width of the capital letter M in traditional typography. It is one of the most expressive tools available to writers, used to interrupt a sentence, introduce a dramatic pause, set off a parenthetical remark with more force than commas or parentheses, or signal an abrupt change of direction in a line of dialogue. Unlike the shorter hyphen, which joins words, or the en dash, which marks ranges such as dates and page numbers, the emdash operates at the level of the whole sentence. Conventions differ across the Atlantic: American publishers typically close it up against adjacent words, while many British and news outlets surround it with spaces. Its name comes from the era of movable type, when dashes were cast in standard widths based on the letters M and N.
nounAn emdash is a punctuation mark (—) roughly the width of the letter 'M', used to set off a phrase for emphasis or to indicate an abrupt break in thought.
- The punctuation mark (—), one em wide, used to introduce or interrupt a clause, mark an abrupt shift in thought, or add emphasis.
"She hesitated—then answered with a single emdash separating her doubt from her resolve."
"He opened his mouth, closed it again—and that silence was answer enough, punctuated only by an unspoken emdash hanging in the air."
"Style guides disagree on spacing: AP style surrounds each emdash with spaces, while Chicago style sets it closed up against the surrounding words."
Standard plural; sometimes styled 'em dashes' as two words.
"Her prose bristled with emdashes, each one cutting the sentence short."
Typographers named it after a block of metal type: the emdash got its name simply because it's as wide as the capital letter M in hot-metal printing.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of emdash
The word emdash combines 'em' — a typographic unit of measurement equal to the width of a capital M — with 'dash', from Middle English 'daschen', meaning to strike violently. It arose in the vocabulary of printers and compositors during the age of movable type, when rules and dashes were manufactured in fixed widths named for the letters M and N. The term entered general editorial usage as typography became a subject of wider discussion, alongside its sibling terms 'en dash' and 'em space'.
How emdash is actually used
Usually written without surrounding spaces in US publishing (Chicago style), but with spaces in much British and news writing (AP style). Often typed as two hyphens (-- ) or via autocorrect; the true character is U+2014.
Easily confused with emdash
The en dash (–) is shorter — the width of the letter 'n' — and is used mainly for ranges such as '1990–2000', while the emdash is used for breaks in thought.
A hyphen (-) joins compound words like 'well-known' or splits syllables at line breaks, whereas the emdash separates phrases or clauses.