The term 'ammonia-treated' is formed from the noun 'ammonia' and the past participle 'treated', indicating something that has undergone treatment with ammonia.

'Ammonia' comes from the Latin 'sal ammoniacus', and 'treated' is the past participle of 'treat', from Old French 'traitier'. The compound adjective 'ammonia-treated' emerged in modern English to describe materials processed with ammonia.

Initially, it simply described anything processed with ammonia, but it is now especially used in scientific and agricultural contexts.