'arrowlike' originates from English, specifically the compound of the noun 'arrow' and the suffix '-like', where 'arrow' meant the projectile 'arrow' and '-like' meant 'having the form of' or 'similar to'.

'arrow' comes from Old English 'earh(e)' (meaning the projectile shot from a bow), while the suffix '-like' derives from Old English '-lic' (later '-like') meaning 'having the nature or form of'. The combination 'arrow-like' appears in Middle and Early Modern English and eventually stabilized as the single-word adjective 'arrowlike' in modern English.

Initially, it meant 'having the form of an arrow'; over time this primary sense has remained stable, with occasional figurative extension to mean 'direct' or 'swift' like an arrow.