'chest-pain-like' originates from Modern English, formed by combining the noun 'chest', the noun 'pain', and the suffix '-like' (used to mean 'similar to'), where the suffix '-like' ultimately comes from Old English 'gelīc', in which 'gelīc' meant 'similar'.

'chest' is from Old English 'cest'/'ciste' (from Latin 'cista'), 'pain' comes via Old French 'peine' from Latin 'poena', and the adjectival suffix '-like' developed from Old English 'gelīc' through Middle English '-lik'/'-like' to the modern productive suffix '-like' that forms adjectives meaning 'resembling'.

Originally 'gelīc'/'-like' meant 'similar' or 'having the same form'; over time the suffix became a productive way in Modern English to form adjectives meaning 'resembling' or 'having the qualities of', as in 'chest-pain-like' meaning 'resembling chest pain'.