Why the text is wrapped (hyphenated), but without hyphens shown

This is the code:

    <!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
  <meta charset="utf-8">
  <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0">
</head>
<body>
  
  <ol class="meaning">
    <li class="meaning-item">This is the example of the sentence where the long words should be hyphenated
      <ul class="sentences">
        <li class="sentence">This is the example of the sentence where the long words should be hyphenated</li>
        <li class="translation">This is the example of the sentence where the long words should be hyphenated</li>
      </ul>
    </li>
  </ol>
  
</body>
</html>

.meaning {
  list-style-type: none;
  counter-reset: item;
  font-size: calc(0.7em + 2.5vw);
  word-break: break-all;
  hyphens: auto;
}

.meaning > li {
  position: relative;
}

.meaning > li::before {
  content: counter(item);
  counter-increment: item;
  position: absolute;
  top: 0;
  text-align: center;
  margin-left: calc(-0.7em - 2.5vw);
}

.sentences {
  list-style-type: none;
  padding-left: 0;
}

The words are wrapped as I want them to, but the hyphen itself ("-") is not shown at the point where the word is wrapped.

Besides, I want to explicitly tell the browser that text in <li class="sentence"> is in English (en) and in <li class="translation"> - in German (de). I know that not all browsers have built-in instructions for hyphening specific languages, but I want to give it a try.

I also saved this code in the JS Bin.

Thank you!

Solution

1.) Don't use word-break: break-all; – it breaks words at any position, regardless of hyphenation rules.

2.) You need a lang attribute in the html tag in combination with hyphens: auto; to activate automatic hyphenation.

3.) You can use a different lang attribute in any element that contain another language – see how I applied lang="de" to the last li element below.

.meaning {
  list-style-type: none;
  counter-reset: item;
  font-size: calc(0.7em + 2.5vw);
  hyphens: auto;
}

.meaning > li {
  position: relative;
}

.meaning > li::before {
  content: counter(item);
  counter-increment: item;
  position: absolute;
  top: 0;
  text-align: center;
  margin-left: calc(-0.7em - 2.5vw);
}

.sentences {
  list-style-type: none;
  padding-left: 0;
}

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
  <meta charset="utf-8">
  <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0">
</head>
<body>
  
  <ol class="meaning">
    <li class="meaning-item">This is the example of the sentence where the sophisticated extraordinariliy long words should be hyphenated
      <ul class="sentences">
        <li class="sentence">This is the example of the sentence where the long words should be hyphenated</li>
        <li class="translation" lang="de">Das ist ein Beispiel für einen Satz, der außergewöhnlich überlange Wörter enthält, welche am Zeilenende bei Bedarf geteilt werden sollen.</li>
      </ul>
    </li>
  </ol>
  
</body>
</html>