'broad-nosed' originates from English, formed as a compound of the adjective 'broad' and the noun 'nose'; 'broad' comes from Old English 'brād' where 'brād' meant 'wide', and 'nose' comes from Old English 'nosu' where 'nosu' meant 'nose'.

'broad' developed from Old English 'brād' and 'nose' from Old English 'nosu'; in Middle English these became 'broad' and 'nose', and later combined in Modern English into the descriptive compound 'broad-nosed'.

Initially it simply described a 'wide' or 'broad' nose; over time the compound has continued to mean 'having a wide nose' and has also been applied more broadly to snouts or beaks in animals.