'cold-work' originates from English as a compound of 'cold' + 'work', where 'cold' meant the low temperature sense and 'work' meant physical labor or operation.

'cold' comes from Old English 'ceald' and 'work' from Old English 'weorc'; the compound term developed in modern technical English to describe mechanical working done at low temperature and was specialized in metallurgy as 'cold-work'.

Initially, the elements meant 'low temperature' and 'physical work'; over time the compound evolved into the technical sense 'mechanical deformation of metal at temperatures below recrystallization' (current meaning).