Is Asian American Hyphenated?

Language, usage, and culture are always changing. Personally, I have evolved from identifying as Chinese-American in my childhood (because it was too hard to explain that Taiwan and Thailand were not the same to a bunch of white Midwesterners in the 90s) to now identifying as Taiwanese American. With the changes in language over the years, you may be wondering, “Is Asian American hyphenated?”

As of 2021, The New York Times, Associated Press, Chicago Manual of Style, and other style guides no longer hyphenate Asian American or any of its derivatives, such as Chinese American, Japanese American, or Pakistani American.

Is this just an issue of semantics or an important statement about Asian American identity? Let’s take a closer look.

Why is there no hyphen in Asian American?

For a long time, the term “Asian American” was hyphenated as a way to show the dual identity of Asian immigrants and their descendants. The idea was that we were equal parts Asian and equal parts American. In fact, one of the first publications for Asian Americans was titled Hyphen.

But the idea of a “hyphenated American” has not historically been a positive one. Former U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt bluntly said, “There is no room in this country for hyphenated Americanism,” while his successor Woodrow Wilson asserted that, “Any man who carries a hyphen about with him carries a dagger that he is ready to plunge into the vitals of this Republic whenever he gets ready.”

A century later, the late L.A. Times editor Henry Fuhrmann pointed out, “Those hyphens serve to divide even as they are meant to connect. Their use in racial and ethnic identifiers can connote an otherness, a sense that people of color are somehow not full citizens or fully American.” His 2018 piece for the Conscious Style Guide advocated for dropping the hyphen in Asian American, which various newsrooms and style guides implemented in 2021 after the rise of anti-Asian hate during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Is Asian American the best descriptor? 

Asking, “Is Asian American hyphenated?” brings up bigger questions of how to describe Asian Americans in writing and conversation. In addition to dropping the hyphen, many style guides endorse using more specific descriptors by nationality or ethnicity, such as:

• Hmong American
• Lao American
• Bangladeshi American
• Korean American

The more specific, the better, but broader regional terms, like South Asian American, can be acceptable.

It’s also worth noting that Asian and Asian American are not the same, and these groups should not be collapsed together. According to the American Psychological Association’s style guide, Asian refers to “people of Asian ancestry from Asia,” while Asian American refers to people of Asian descent in the United States and Canada, with even more nuance possible based on nationality and immigration status. (But as any Asian American can tell you, the word “from” can get complicated fast.)

When in doubt, default to the words each individual uses. This can include terms like “mixed-race” or “half Asian” if that is how someone identifies themselves.

What does Asian American mean?

The term Asian American has its own complex meaning and history. It’s a relatively recent term, coined in the 1960s by activists like Yuji Ichioka and Emma Gee who labored alongside the movements for Black liberation, Latine freedom, and Native sovereignty.

But even with that historical legacy of solidarity, the term Asian American can often feel flattening. How do you cram under one umbrella more than 50 countries, countless cultures, millennia of history, and innumerable stories of migration, displacement, assimilation, appropriation, and more? It is difficult labor to foster inclusivity without erasing the very real distinctions and inequities between subgroups.

Within the community, this dilemma can be seen in the various acronyms that have risen and fallen out of usage in recent years:

• APA (Asian/Pacific American)
• API (Asian and Pacific Islander)
• AAPI (Asian American Pacific Islander)
• APIDA (Asian Pacific Islander Desi American)
• AANHPI (Asian American and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander)

White supremacy, on the other hand, doesn’t bother to distinguish between Asians and Asian Americans or different ethnicities and nationalities but enacts hate and violence indiscriminately. Vincent Chin, a Chinese American machinist, was murdered by white auto workers who thought he was Japanese, whom they blamed for their unemployment. Sikh American entrepreneur Balbir Singh Sodhi was murdered in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks after being mistaken for an Arab Muslim. Anti-Asian hate continues in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, with Asian Americans of all backgrounds reporting discrimination along with acts of violence, like the Atlanta spa shootings and Indiana University bus stabbing.

This is why something as small as a hyphen matters. When a tiny piece of punctuation carries the weight of historical xenophobia and nativism, removing it from usage is a critical step toward inclusivity. When white supremacist ideas of “Asian American” can lead to violence, it’s more important than ever to own our identities and reclaim solidarity with other marginalized groups.

Here at Mochi, we encourage our readers to learn about Asian American history on both a broad and personal scale. Some resources we recommend include:

• “Asian Americans” docuseries on PBS

• “Minor Feelings” by Cathy Park Hong
• Parents Are Human, a game to spark conversations with your parents in your heritage language

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Asian American hyphenated as an adjective?

Some style guides allow dual-identity terms to be hyphenated when used as an adjective. For example, you may use a hyphen for a Korean-American restaurant, but not for the Korean Americans who own said restaurant. The Asian American Journalists Association advocates for unhyphenated usage overall.

Is Asian American capitalized?

Yes! Since both parts of the term Asian American are proper nouns, both words should be capitalized.

Do we hyphenate African American?

Nope! You don’t need to hyphenate African American, for the same reasons Asian American isn’t hyphenated. It’s also worth noting that Black and African American are not always synonymous.

Illustration by Elvie Mae Parian