'can't-miss' originates from Modern English, formed by combining the contraction 'can't' (from 'cannot', itself from 'can' + 'not') and the verb 'miss' (from Old English 'missan'), where 'can't' meant 'cannot' and 'miss' meant 'to fail to hit or to fail to notice.'

'can't' developed as a contraction of 'cannot' in Early Modern English (from 'cannot', which developed from Old English 'ne can' constructions tied to 'can' from Old English 'cunnan'), while 'miss' comes from Old English 'missan'; the phrase 'cannot miss' was used literally and eventually lexicalized into the compound adjective 'can't-miss' in colloquial Modern English.

Initially it literally meant 'cannot fail to miss' (i.e., impossible to miss something physically); over time it evolved idiomatically to mean 'certain to succeed' or 'unfailingly good/attractive' and is now used as an emphatic adjective or noun.