Usually when trying to figure out the meaning of words otherwise unknown one breaks them down into parts. Often the parts are made up of latin and/or greek prefixes and suffixes. However in fun some people many years ago observed that there are alternative ways to get at the meaning of words from their parts... Two OLD examples:

assume = an ASS of YOU and ME

expert = EX + SPURT where:
EX = "a has-been"
SPURT = "a little drip under pressure"

Any other examples like these?