Is there a hyphen in cyber-bullying?

Answer 1

Many of these compound words that had hyphens in common usage have now do not, and the English language is famous for its inconsistencies. One that had me going was the change of co-operation to cooperation. My guess is that, as the word became more commonly used, the hyphen dropped from usage.

However, with cyberbullying, a compound word becomes a single word when it is a single idea. Generally, if the compound word is used as an adjective after a noun, then the hyphen is unnecessary (ie. actor is well known; canned goods were out of date). However, a dictionary is always a good source since there are always inconsistencies in usage (ie. cross-reference, cross section, cave-in).