Толковый словарь английского языка Oxford English Reference - hyphen

n. & v. --n. the sign (-) used to join words semantically or syntactically (as in fruit-tree, pick-me-up, rock-forming), to indicate the division of a word at the end of a line, or to indicate a missing or implied element (as in man- and womankind). --v.tr. 1 write (a compound word) with a hyphen. 2 join (words) with a hyphen. Etymology: LL f. Gk huphen together f. hupo under + hen one