diff --git a/resources/pdf-preprint.js b/resources/pdf-preprint.js
index 7a2c72de56..4035fef675 100644
--- a/resources/pdf-preprint.js
+++ b/resources/pdf-preprint.js
@@ -35,9 +35,11 @@
     // is U+2010 but that does not render with the default Times font on macOS as of Monterey
     // and Qt 15.5 See https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1951467 and can be easily reproduced
     // by converting a plain text file with the --pdf-hyphenate option
-    for (const elem of document.getElementsByTagName('*')) {
-        if (elem.style) {
-            elem.style.setProperty('-webkit-hyphenate-character', '"-"', 'important');
+    if (HYPHEN_CHAR) {
+        for (const elem of document.getElementsByTagName('*')) {
+            if (elem.style) {
+                elem.style.setProperty('-webkit-hyphenate-character', '"-"', 'important');
+            }
         }
     }
 })();
diff --git a/src/calibre/ebooks/pdf/html_writer.py b/src/calibre/ebooks/pdf/html_writer.py
index 2f82f75199..1ac5acfbae 100644
--- a/src/calibre/ebooks/pdf/html_writer.py
+++ b/src/calibre/ebooks/pdf/html_writer.py
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ from qt.webengine import (
 )
 
 from calibre import detect_ncpus, human_readable, prepare_string_for_xml
-from calibre.constants import __version__, iswindows
+from calibre.constants import __version__, iswindows, ismacos
 from calibre.ebooks.metadata.xmp import metadata_to_xmp_packet
 from calibre.ebooks.oeb.base import XHTML, XPath
 from calibre.ebooks.oeb.polish.container import Container as ContainerBase
@@ -63,7 +63,7 @@ def data_as_pdf_doc(data):
 def preprint_js():
     ans = getattr(preprint_js, 'ans', None)
     if ans is None:
-        ans = preprint_js.ans = P('pdf-preprint.js', data=True).decode('utf-8')
+        ans = preprint_js.ans = P('pdf-preprint.js', data=True).decode('utf-8').replace('HYPHEN_CHAR', 'true' if ismacos else 'false', 1)
     return ans