For an American document, write well-being, with a hyphen: it is the only spelling Merriam-Webster gives, and the safe choice for an APA paper. For a British document, either is correct. Wellbeing, as one word, is common in British, Australian and New Zealand writing and is the NHS's style, while the UK's Office for National Statistics hyphenates. Whichever you pick, avoid the open form, well being, and use one spelling throughout.
It isn't a grammar question: the word is the same noun either way, meaning, in Merriam-Webster's definition, “the state of being happy, healthy, or prosperous.” It is a spelling convention, and when you write for a particular publication, its house style decides. Look in its style guide or author instructions first. If they say nothing, check how the publication spells the word in its own recent pages, then note the decision on your style sheet.
Wellbeing or well-being at a glance
| You are writing for | Use | Why |
|---|---|---|
| You are writing forAmerican readers | Usewell-being | WhyThe only form in Merriam-Webster |
| You are writing forAn APA-style paper, in any country | Usewell-being | WhyAPA takes its spellings from Merriam-Webster or the APA Dictionary of Psychology |
| You are writing forThe NHS, or a house style based on its guide | Usewellbeing | WhyThe NHS A to Z says: one word |
| You are writing forOther British readers | UseEither, by house style | WhyUK bodies differ: the ONS hyphenates, the NHS doesn't |
| You are writing forAustralian or New Zealand government readers | Usewellbeing | WhyThe form both national treasuries use |
| You are writing forA named act, budget, survey or organization | UseAs published | WhyIt's a name, not your style choice |
How to choose for your document
- Check the house style and the author guidelines
A journal, a funder, a publisher or a health service may already have decided. Look in its style guide or author instructions before you look anywhere else. When those live on someone else's website, ask the Strokes Assistant to look up the guidelines; it browses the web and answers beside your draft.
- Use well-being for APA and for American readers
APA says spelling should generally match Merriam-Webster or the APA Dictionary of Psychology, and Merriam-Webster has one spelling. That makes well-being the safe choice in an APA paper, wherever it is published, unless the journal says otherwise.
- Otherwise, match your readers
Writing for the NHS or in a health-sector house style based on it: wellbeing. Writing for Australian or New Zealand government readers: wellbeing, as both treasuries write it. Writing for anyone else: either works, and well-being is the form every dictionary here gives as its headword.
- Keep names as published
The Welsh act keeps its hyphen and the New Zealand budget keeps its closed form, even in the same paragraph. The same goes for journal titles, job titles and program names.
- Write it down, with the compounds
Put the decision on the style sheet, along with the phrases your document repeats: wellbeing strategy, employee well-being, well-being survey. Decide the capitalization for headings at the same time.
What dictionaries say
The general dictionaries checked for this page all list the hyphenated form as the headword:
- Merriam-Webster (American) enters well-being as a noun, defines it as “the state of being happy, healthy, or prosperous : welfare,” lists no closed variant and dates the word's first known use to 1561.
- The Oxford Learner's Dictionaries enter well-being in both their British and American English editions, defined as “general health and happiness,” and mark it as uncountable, so it has no plural.
- Dictionary.com, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, also uses well-being as its headword, and its usage note adds that the word is sometimes spelled well being or wellbeing.
We have now recognised the necessity to the mental well-being of mankind (on which all their other well-being depends) of freedom of opinion, and freedom of the expression of opinion, on four distinct grounds…
Mill, writing in Britain in 1859, uses the word twice in one sentence, and both times it takes the hyphenated form today's dictionaries list.
A spelling missing from a dictionary entry isn't automatically wrong; it means the editors chose one form to show. That matters here, because the closed form appears in official writing in Britain, Australia and New Zealand, as the next two sections show.
What style guides say
Style guides tend to settle the question by pointing to a dictionary, or by making a house decision and writing it down.
- APA Style says spelling and hyphenation “should match the spellings given in either the Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary or the APA Dictionary of Psychology.” Merriam-Webster gives well-being, so psychology, education and social-science papers in APA style can hyphenate it with confidence.
- The NHS settles it in one line. Its A to Z of NHS health writing has an entry for wellbeing that reads: “One word.”
- The Australian Government Style Manual doesn't mention the word on its hyphens page and tells writers to use the dictionary their organisation recommends. Its examples there cover the related case of well- adjectives, below.
- The GOV.UK A to Z style guide and the Google developer documentation style guide have no entry for the word (as of November 2026), so writers following them fall back on a dictionary or a departmental preference.
That last point is the practical one. If your own house style is silent, it hasn't chosen for you, and two writers in the same team will choose differently unless someone writes the decision on the style sheet.
How official bodies spell it
Official names show the pattern better than any rule. In the examples below, the American body hyphenates, British ones split, and the Australian and New Zealand treasuries close it up.
| Organization | Spelling | Where it appears |
|---|---|---|
| OrganizationWorld Health Organization | Spellingwell-being | Where it appearsIts Constitution, adopted in 1946, defines health as “a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being” |
| OrganizationUS Surgeon General | SpellingWell-Being | Where it appearsThe U.S. Surgeon General's Framework for Workplace Mental Health and Well-Being (2022) |
| OrganizationUK Office for National Statistics | Spellingwell-being | Where it appearsPersonal well-being in the UK, the title of its statistical release |
| OrganizationWales | SpellingWell-being | Where it appearsThe Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015 |
| OrganizationNHS | Spellingwellbeing | Where it appearsThe A to Z of NHS health writing: “One word” |
| OrganizationNew Zealand Treasury | SpellingWellbeing | Where it appearsThe Wellbeing Budget 2019 |
| OrganizationAustralian Treasury | Spellingwellbeing | Where it appearsMeasuring What Matters, described as Australia's first national wellbeing framework |
If you quote the WHO definition in a document that otherwise uses wellbeing, keep the hyphen inside the quotation marks. A quotation keeps its source's spelling.
Well-being and other well- compounds
Well-being is a noun, so its spelling doesn't change with its position in the sentence: the well-being of patients, patients' well-being, Well-being matters. Adjectives built on well work differently. They take a hyphen before a noun and usually lose it after a verb, as in the Oxford Learner's Dictionaries' examples a well-known actor and his books are not well known. The Australian Government Style Manual adds that a modifier such as very removes the hyphen: a very well known diplomat.
A well-known survey of employee well-being found that most of the junior staff felt well informed but not well paid.
Well-known comes before its noun, so it takes a hyphen. Well-being is a noun and keeps its hyphen anywhere. Well informed and well paid come after the verb, so they stay open. In a wellbeing house style, only the noun changes.
Two smaller points:
- No plural. Oxford marks well-being as uncountable. Write the well-being of both groups, not
both groups' well-beings. - Headings. In title case, capitalize both parts of the hyphenated form, as the Surgeon General's framework does: Workplace Mental Health and Well-Being. In sentence case, only the first word of the heading takes a capital: Supporting employee well-being.
For the hyphens and dashes themselves, see em dash vs en dash; for another pair that house styles settle, see judgement and judgment.
Examples in sentences
Hyphenated, as in American English and APA style:
- The study measured well-being at six and twelve months.
- Shift length had no clear effect on nurses' well-being.
- The school hired a counselor to support student well-being.
- Her memoir is about money, grief and a slow return to well-being.
- Sleep, debt and loneliness all showed up in the well-being scores.
- The well-being survey goes to every employee in March.
Closed, as in NHS writing and the Australian and New Zealand treasuries:
- The council's wellbeing strategy runs to 2030.
- Staff wellbeing came up in every exit interview.
- The charity funds wellbeing walks for new parents.
- Sleep is the first thing the wellbeing course covers.
Names that keep their own spelling:
- The report cites the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015 alongside New Zealand's Wellbeing Budget 2019.
- Her talk drew on the ONS release Personal well-being in the UK.
Common well-being spelling mistakes
Employee well being is a priority.→ well-being, or wellbeing in a closed house styleWellbeingin an APA-style paper → well-being, the Merriam-Webster spelling- Well-being in the introduction and wellbeing in the discussion → pick one and apply it everywhere, including table captions and headings
the well-beings of both groups→ the well-being of both groups- “Correcting” the Wellbeing Budget to the Well-Being Budget → names stay as published
Workplace Well-beingin an American title-case heading → Workplace Well-Being
Frequently asked questions
Is wellbeing one word in British English?
Often, but not always. The NHS writing guide makes it one word, while the Office for National Statistics and the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act use the hyphen. British English accepts both, so the deciding factor is the house style of the organization or publication you are writing for.
Which spelling does APA style use?
Well-being, with a hyphen. APA Style says spelling and hyphenation should generally match the Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary or the APA Dictionary of Psychology, and Merriam-Webster lists only well-being. That applies to APA papers written anywhere, including in Britain or Australia, unless a journal's own guidelines say otherwise.
Is it well-being or well being?
Use well-being or wellbeing. The open form, well being, isn't how Merriam-Webster or the Oxford Learner's Dictionaries spell the noun, and it can make a reader stumble, since well and being look like two separate words doing separate jobs. For the state of health and happiness, hyphenate it or close it up.
Should well-being be capitalized in a title?
In a title-case heading, capitalize both parts, as the US Surgeon General's 2022 Framework for Workplace Mental Health and Well-Being does. In sentence case, capitalize only the first word of the heading. If your house style closes the word up, it takes one capital in title case: Wellbeing.
