'amide-linked' is formed from 'amide' (originating from French 'amide') combined with the past participle 'linked' (from English 'link'); 'amide' in turn comes from chemical-nomenclature usage where the element 'ammonia' or its derivatives were indicated by roots related to 'am-'/'ammon-'.

'amide' was adopted into modern chemical vocabulary in the 19th century (via French and German terms such as French 'amide' and German 'Amid'), and the adjective form 'amide-linked' is a modern English compound formed by combining 'amide' with the past participle 'linked' to denote connection by an amide bond.

Originally 'amide' designated a derivative of ammonia (in early chemical nomenclature); over time it came to denote organic compounds featuring the –CONH2 (or related) functional group, and 'amide-linked' now specifically describes a bond or connection formed by such an amide linkage.