Japanese Meaning of Each Kanji 1 免疫学 discipline of + avoid + diseases 2 法医学 discipline of + law + medic 3 病理学 discipline of + sickness + rules 4 病理診断学 discipline of + sickness + rules + [medical examination] + decide 5 生体構造学 discipline of + living + body + [structure] 6 生理学 discipline of + living + rules In other words, if you know the meaning of those characters, they'll offer you the etymology of the compound words that contain them on a silver plate. In order to guess the meaning of an unfamiliar word, you would have to pay close attention to how other words you know are composed, distinguish the meanings of those strange prefixes and suffixes, and put them together in the new combination.