Post-graduate or postgraduate?
post-graduate is an adjective meaning “Alternative form of postgraduate”; postgraduate is an adjective meaning “Of studies which take place after having successfully completed a degree course”. post-graduate is written with a hyphen and postgraduate as one word; they are used differently.
What is the difference between post-graduate and postgraduate?
| post-graduate | postgraduate | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | adjective | noun, adjective |
| Meaning | Alternative form of postgraduate | A person continuing to study in a field after having successfully completed a degree course Of studies which take place after having successfully completed a degree course |
| Example | none recorded | none recorded |
| Pronunciation | not recorded | /ˌpəʊstˈɡɹædju.ət/ |
| In writing | not counted (the list counts single words) | 1.9 times per million words |
Sources: post-graduate and postgraduate in the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Every current meaning of post-graduate and postgraduate
post-graduate
- 1
Alternative form of postgraduate
postgraduate
- 1
A person continuing to study in a field after having successfully completed a degree course
- 2
Of studies which take place after having successfully completed a degree course
Source: the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); obsolete, archaic, dialect and rare senses left out.
Which is more common, post-graduate or postgraduate?
post-graduate is a phrase, which the list of single words does not count; postgraduate 1.9 times per million words.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).