'appliqué' originates from French, specifically the word 'appliquer', which ultimately comes from Latin 'applicare' (from 'ad-' + 'plicare'), where 'ad-' meant 'to/toward' and 'plicare' meant 'to fold or to place'.

'appliqué' changed from the French past participle form of 'appliquer' and was borrowed into English in the 19th century as the noun/adjective 'appliqué' (meaning a piece applied for ornamentation) and then used as a verb form in English.

Initially, it referred to the action of applying or attaching (from Latin 'applicare'), and in modern English it specifically denotes the needlework technique or items 'attached' for decoration.