tenderpreneur and the like

[David Barnhart]

There is a short "article" in _The Second Barnhart Dictionary of New
English_ (c. 1980) entitled "Combining Forms":

        "This term is usually restricted to forms that occur in compounds
and derivaties, such as _semi-_ and _-naut_; sometimes of course, the form
coincides with a free-standing word, such as _graph_ as contrasted with
_telegraph_; and even a free-standing word may be used as a combining form,
such as _-person_ in place of _-man_.
        "Many of our combining forms are borrowings from Latin or Greek and
are so well established in English that they are freely used to form new
words.  Even the simplest list of words beginning with _argri-_, _bio-_,
_industrio-_, _micro-_, _astro-_, _petro-_, _sexo-_, illustrates the range
of productivity of such forms.  Combining forms are particularly frequent
and important in the creation of new technical terms.
        "Like other linguistic forms, these word components are subject to
change extension of meaning. For instance, the development of astronautics
in the 1960's expanded the meanings of the old combining forms of _astro-_
and _cosmo-_ to include outer space and space travel.  More recently, the
energy crisis has caused the form _petro-_ to take on an extended meaning
related to the oil industry, while _-athon_ was applied to any prolonge4d
activity resembling a marathon.  Similar changes are noted under the entries
_syn-_, _flexi-_, _-oriented_, and _-watcher_.  Other examples of the use of
combining forms take out of older words, such as _-gate_ in _Watergate_, are
cited in the separate notes on abstracted forms and nonce words. (p. 113).

Another treatment for such forms is found in Wentworth and Flexner
_Dictionary of American Slang_ (c. 1960) in its appendices (pp 596-655).

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