I typically think of words like "bittersweet" or "sandstorm" when I think of compound words. But words like "otherwise" or "maybe" also have two other complete words inside of them; are they also considered compound words?
The reason I ask is because most of the stereotypical examples directly relate to the meanings of each part. "Otherwise" doesn't really seem to relate to both "other" and "wise".
Best Answer
Many words started out as two separate words: maybe (may be), tomorrow, yesterday, otherwise, and hundreds more, but they are no longer considered compound words.
As JBJ points out, otherwise comes from Old English othre wisan: other manner. Some may seem mismatched if we don't know their Old or Middle English roots.