The confusion is not new, but it continues to appear frequently in journalistic and academic texts and on social media. That is why the RAE has once again recalled the correct form and the linguistic reasoning behind it.
Since the publication of the Orthography of the Spanish Language in 2010, guion must be written without an accent mark, a rule that has not changed since then.
A question answered by the RAE
A WORD THAT IS NOT OXYTONE, EVEN THOUGH IT MAY SEEM SO
The key lies in how the word is classified for orthographic purposes. Although many people pronounce it as if it had two syllables, the RAE establishes that guion is an orthographic monosyllable, like fie, truhan or hui.
Because it is a monosyllable, it cannot carry an accent mark, since monosyllables are accented only in cases involving a diacritical accent, which does not apply here. Therefore, writing guión with an accent mark is considered incorrect under current academic standards.
The RAE points out that spelling does not always coincide with each speaker’s phonetic perception and that, in cases like this, the prescriptive standard takes precedence. Thus, although it sounds like an oxytone word ending in n, guion is not one from an orthographic standpoint.
A simple but key clarification to help avoid one of the most common errors in written Spanish.
