'bareboned' is a modern adjective formed from the compound 'bare-bones' (bare + bones), where 'bare' meant 'without covering' and 'bones' referred to the skeleton or the most basic framework.

'bare-bones' developed in modern English from the separate words 'bare' (Old English 'bær') and 'bone' (Old English 'bān'); the compound came to be used figuratively to mean 'stripped to essentials' and later produced the adjective 'bareboned.'

Initially describing something literally without flesh or covering ('bare bones'), it evolved into a figurative sense meaning 'reduced to essentials' and has retained that primary figurative meaning in modern usage.