... take -o- when combined with a vowel-initial final combining form, but that take -o- when combined with a consonant-initial final combining form And indeed, such data exist: the initial combining ... pipe-and-slipper husband off-the-rack dress over-the-fence gossip In (3a) we find compounds involving elements (astro-, bio-, photo-), which are not attested as independent words (note that photo- in ... non-head, as exemplified in (29): noun as non-head adjective as non-head verb as non-head proof-read deep-fry stir-fry talent-spot shortcut dry-clean ghost-write blindfold freeze-dry chain-smoke...