'age-promoting' originates from Modern English as a compound of 'age' and the present participle 'promoting'; 'age' comes from Old French 'age' (from Latin 'aetas') meaning 'age, lifetime', and 'promote' comes from Latin 'promovere' where 'pro-' meant 'forward' and 'movere' meant 'to move'.

'promovere' in Latin became Old French 'promouvoir' and Middle English forms 'promoten'/'promoten' which developed into modern English 'promote'; 'aetas' in Latin passed into Old French as 'age' and then into Middle and Modern English as 'age'; the modern compound 'age-promoting' was formed in Modern English by combining 'age' with the present participle 'promoting'.

Originally the components referred separately to 'a period of life' ('age') and 'to move forward' ('promovere'); over time the compound came to mean 'causing or accelerating the process of aging'.