[noun] [C] - a short written or printed line that joins two words together, or shows that a word has been divided into two parts at the end of one line and the beginning of the nextWe put a hyphen between 'short' and 'sighted' to make the word 'short-sighted', which describes a person who cannot see things that are far away.Compare dash (LINE).
HYPHEN
Meaning of HYPHEN in English
Cambridge English vocab. Кембриджский английский словарь. 2012