hardworking vs hard-working

[Karen123456]

Where I live "hardworking" is spelled as one word. I have referred to my dictionary, which states that it is American English.

We are learning British English, yet all our teachers are spelling the word the American way.

I wonder if the British spell it as one word or hyphenate the word.

Thanks.

 

[Copyright]

Oxford has it as hyphenated: hard-working

 

[Karen123456]

Thanks, Copyright.

But how do native speakers generally spell the word?

 

[Englishmypassion]

http://forum.wordreference.com/threads/both-clever-and-hardworking.3062832/

The thread linked to may answer your question, Karen.

 

[Copyright]

Not really ... the consensus in that thread was that "hard-working" is hyphenated in both AE and BE. While that's true in BE, Merriam-Webster likes hardworking, as does Webster's New World College Dictionary, and the Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary labels it as US.

So the answer is, it depends.

 

[Enquiring Mind]

I would naturally write "hard-working", but if you Google "hardworking", you'll see British papers using it; I found The Daily
Mirror, The Spectator and The Guardian using it as one word, and it doesn't surprise me to see it written like that. Most American cultural influences find their way here sooner or later.

 

[Englishmypassion]

And I have observed that Merriam Webster is much quicker in joining compound and hyphenated words than the OALD. For example, sugarcane and schoolbag are single words in MW but not in the OALD.