The hyphen (-) is used to divide a word at the end of a line. It separates syllables. A word of one syllable is never split. We may write com-mittee or commit-tee, but not comm-ittee or committ-ee. The hyphen comes at the end of the line, never at the beginning of a line.

The hyphen separates those parts of compound words (a) which have not yet become single words: as, greatgrandfather, twenty-five; (ft) in which it is convenient to keep the prefix distinct from the rest of the word; as, re-creation, pre-Shakespearean.