I don't study Chinese, but I do study Japanese which shares the issue of combination words being multiple kanji (not a big surprise since kanji come from hanzi

I don't study Chinese, but I do study Japanese which shares the issue of combination words being multiple kanji (not a big surprise since kanji come from hanzi after all...) It's something you learn over time for the ones that are more obvious at least. Not all combination words are straight forward, but many basic words are straightforward. "羊肉" is literally "lamb meat" and if you're told 牛 means "cow" you can probably guess "牛肉" means "cow meat". And if 豚 means "pig", what do you think "豚肉" means? And 魚 means "fish" so "魚肉" means? They aren't always so perfectly straight forward, but I bet you can guess what this means too: 消防士 "extinguish (a fire), defend, gentlemen." This type of meaning inference doesn't always work, though it will for the vast majority of what many would consider "basic vocabulary".