'color-shifting' originates from English, specifically a compound of 'color' and the present participle 'shifting', where 'color' referred to hue and 'shifting' meant 'moving or changing'.

'color' comes into English via Old French 'colour' from Latin 'color'; 'shift' developed through Middle English from Old English/Old Norse roots related to 'divide' or 'change', and the compound 'color-shifting' arose in modern English by combining them to describe changing hues.

Initially, 'color' simply denoted hue and 'shift' meant to move or change position; over time the compound came to mean specifically the optical effect of hues changing with angle or light.