'base-sensitive' originates from English, specifically the elements 'base' and 'sensitive', where 'base' referred to the chemical meaning 'base' (alkali) and 'sensitive' meant 'easily affected'.

'sensitive' comes from Latin 'sensitivus' (via Old French 'sensitif' and Middle English 'sensitive'), and 'base' comes from Late Latin/Greek 'basis' (Greek 'basis' > Late Latin 'basis') which later took on the chemical sense; the modern compound 'base-sensitive' formed in technical/chemical contexts to describe susceptibility to bases.

Initially, the components had broader meanings ('basis' as a foundation or step and 'sensitive' as capable of perception or affected easily), but the compound evolved in chemistry to mean specifically 'liable to be affected or decomposed by alkaline (basic) conditions'.