diff --git a/sphinxlint/checkers.py b/sphinxlint/checkers.py
index 5354606f6..4fe038c62 100644
--- a/sphinxlint/checkers.py
+++ b/sphinxlint/checkers.py
@@ -461,10 +461,12 @@ def check_block(block_lineno, block):
     yield from errors
 
 
+_DANGLING_HYPHEN_RE = re.compile(r".*[a-z]-$")
+
 @checker(".rst", rst_only=True)
 def check_dangling_hyphen(file, lines, options):
     """Check for lines ending in a hyphen."""
     for lno, line in enumerate(lines):
         stripped_line = line.rstrip("\n")
-        if re.match(r".*[a-z]-$", stripped_line):
+        if _DANGLING_HYPHEN_RE.match(stripped_line):
             yield lno + 1, f"Line ends with dangling hyphen"