'badly-written' originates from the combination of 'badly,' an adverb meaning 'in a bad manner,' and 'written,' the past participle of 'write,' meaning 'to compose text.'

'badly-written' evolved from the Old English word 'writan,' which meant 'to write,' combined with 'badly,' which has been used since the 14th century to describe poor quality or manner.

Initially, 'badly-written' simply described text that was not well-composed, and this meaning has largely remained the same in modern usage.