'clustered-flowering' originates from Modern English, specifically as a compound of 'clustered' and 'flowering'. 'clustered' comes from 'cluster' (Middle English 'cluster'), where 'cluster' meant 'a bunch or cluster', and 'flowering' comes from 'flower' (Old English 'flōwer'), where 'flower' meant 'blossom'.

'cluster' continued from Middle English 'cluster' into Modern English 'cluster', and 'flower' evolved from Old English 'flōwer' (from Proto-Germanic *blōmô) into Modern English 'flower'; the two elements were later combined in Modern English to form the descriptive compound 'clustered-flowering'.

Initially, the components meant 'a bunch' ('cluster') and 'blossom' ('flower'); over time the compound came to mean specifically 'bearing or producing blossoms grouped in clusters' in botanical usage.