'cholinesterase-activating' is a compound formed from 'cholinesterase' + the present-participle form of 'activate'. 'Cholinesterase' itself is built from 'choline' + 'esterase' (the enzyme suffix '-ase'), and 'activate' comes from Latin-derived 'activate'/'activare' via French/Latin influence.

'choline' originates from Greek 'chole' (meaning 'bile') and the chemical name was coined in modern chemistry; 'esterase' comes from 'ester' (German/modern chemical formation) + the enzyme suffix '-ase' (introduced in the 19th century). 'Activate' comes from Medieval/Modern Latin 'activare' (from Latin 'activus') and passed into English via French 'activer'. The compound form combining a biochemical noun and an English participle follows modern English compounding patterns to form technical adjectives.

Initially, the components referred separately to the molecule ('choline') and the enzyme class ('-ase'); over time they combined to name a specific enzyme ('cholinesterase'). The full compound 'cholinesterase-activating' developed as a technical descriptive adjective meaning 'having the property of increasing cholinesterase activity'.