'PCR-amplifiable' is a modern compound formed from the acronym 'PCR' (from 'polymerase chain reaction') and the adjective-forming element from 'amplifiable' (from 'amplify' + '-able').

'amplify' originates from Latin 'amplificare' (ampli- 'large' + -ficare 'to make'), became Middle French/Medieval Latin forms and entered English as 'amplify'; the suffix '-able' was added to form 'amplifiable'. 'PCR' was coined in the 1980s as an acronym for 'polymerase chain reaction' and the compound 'PCR-amplifiable' arose in molecular biology to describe material suitable for PCR.

Initially 'amplify' meant 'to make larger' in a general sense; in molecular biology 'amplify' came to mean 'to increase the number of copies (of nucleic acid)'; 'PCR-amplifiable' specifically denotes suitability for PCR-based copy amplification.