* help-fns.el (variable-at-point):

As a last resort try striping non-word prefixes and suffixes.

lisp/help-fns.el

@@ -478,8 +478,13 @@ Return 0 if there is no such symbol."
 		(and (symbolp obj) (boundp obj) obj))))
 	(error nil))
       (let* ((str (find-tag-default))
-	     (obj (if str (intern str))))
-	(and (symbolp obj) (boundp obj) obj))
+	     (sym (if str (intern-soft str))))
+	(if (and sym (boundp sym))
+	    sym
+	  (save-match-data
+	    (when (and str (string-match "\\`\\W*\\(.*?\\)\\W*\\'" str))
+	      (setq sym (intern-soft (match-string 1 str)))
+	      (and (boundp sym) sym)))))
       0))
 
 ;;;###autoload