orthography - Should I use a hyphen in the term "in(-)situ visualization"?


The term in(-)situ visualization denotes a visualization or graphics that is depicted in place, for instance, a sparkline that is embedded into text.


As the dictionaries tell, the adjective or adverb in situ is written as two words. But for concatenated terms in scientific language, oftentimes, in-situ (with a hyphen) is placed in front of the main noun. Searching for the term in Google and Google Scholar, I find both alternatives about equally frequent. Also, the COCA Corpus lists both versions for related terms such as in(-)situ burning.


What is the correct spelling of in(-)situ visualization? Is there a specific rule that applies?



Answer



No hyphen needed.


In situ (adverb & adjective) is a Latin phrase (?'borrowed phrase') with a specific meaning. The same form of the phrase can be used for all purposes.


Use of the hyphen is a scholarly hypercorrection, I believe.


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