Wherever you look, you see it. the popular 21st Century buzzword startup. Or is it a start-up?
The simple answer is that both are acceptable. Just be consistent in your use. However, it’s a common mistake to think that “start-up” is used more as a noun, and “startup” used more as a verb. But it’s not that apart from this there are a lot more stories let’s see it.
This graph highlights a few interesting points. You’ll notice that “startup” recently surpassed “start-up” in usage frequency. This seems to follow the trend of dropping the hyphen over time.
Before we begin, it’s useful to keep in mind that language changes over time, and the term “startup” or “start-up” is quite recent. So new in fact, that it barely saw any usage until the 1940s. Don’t take our word for it – check out the Google Books Ngram Viewer for “startup, start-up, and start up”:
According to Wikipedia, “A startup or start-up company is an entrepreneurial venture that is typically a newly established, rapidly growing business aiming to address a market need by developing or offering an innovative product, process or service. startup/start-up are usually a small business, partnership or organisation designed to quickly develop a scalable business model.
According to a Polytechnic State expert on Quora, “A start-up is a noun and should have a hyphen. Startup is not a real word but is often used in everybody’s speech.
Conclusion
Like many new words in English, its meaning and spelling have changed over time. The debate about which is correct continues, but the truth is, it doesn’t really matter.
Startup is commonly used by people working with new and small businesses, and is more popular overall (which is why we chose it). However, as long as you pick and use it consistently, both startup and start- up are fine.
