Hyphenation is at the core of every document preparation system, being that typesetting system such as TeX or modern web browser. For every language, there have to be algorithms, rules, or patterns hyphenating according to that. We are proposing the development of generic hyphenation patterns for a set of languages sharing the same principles, e.g., for all syllable-based languages. We have tested this idea by the development of Czechoslovak hyphenation patterns. At the minimal price of a tiny increase in the size of hyphenation patterns, we have shown that further development of universal syllabic hyphenation patterns is feasible.