Do you know the analogous definition of [itex]\sin x=\frac{e^x-e^{-x}}{2i}[/itex]?
The starting point for these is the exponential function [itex]e^x[/itex].
In the hyperbolic case, x is real.
In the circular case, x is pure-imaginary [itex]x=i\theta[/itex].
Write the exponential function as the sum of its "even part" and its "odd part"
[itex]C(x)=\frac{1}{2}\left(e^{x}+e^{-x}\right)[/itex]
[itex]S(x)=\frac{1}{2}\left(e^{x}-e^{-x}\right)[/itex]
so [itex]e^{x}=C(x)+S(x)[/itex]
In the hyperbolic case, these are cosh and sinh.
[itex]e^{x}=\cosh{x}+\sinh{x}[/itex]
In the circular case, where [itex]x=i\theta[/itex],
we have
[itex]C(i\theta)=\frac{1}{2}\left(e^{i\theta}+e^{-i\theta}\right)[/itex]
[itex]S(i\theta)=\frac{1}{2}\left(e^{i\theta}-e^{-i\theta}\right)[/itex]
It turns out that ##C(i\theta)## is a real-valued function of ##\theta##, called ##\cos(\theta)##.
However, ##S(i\theta)## is a pure-imaginary function of ##\theta##. By defining the real-valued function of ##\theta## called ##\sin\theta\equiv \frac{S(i\theta)}{i}=\frac{1}{2i}\left(e^{i\theta}-e^{-i\theta}\right)##,
we can write
[itex]e^{\theta}=\cos{\theta}+i\sin{\theta}[/itex]