'coal-bearing' originates from English, specifically a compound of 'coal' and the present participle 'bearing', where 'coal' meant 'coal' and 'bear' meant 'to carry' or 'to have/contain'.

'bear' comes from Old English 'beran' meaning 'to carry'; 'coal' comes from Old English 'col' (from Proto-Germanic *kula-). The compound 'coal-bearing' developed in Modern English as a descriptive geological term.

Initially it literally described 'carrying or containing coal'; over time the phrase has remained largely descriptive and is now mainly used in geological contexts to denote strata or areas that contain coal.