'de-shell' originates from Latin, specifically the prefix 'de-' where 'de-' meant 'removal' or 'away from', and from Old English, specifically the word 'scell' (or 'scel') meaning 'a hard outer covering' (shell).

'de-shell' developed by combining the Latin prefix 'de-' with the Old English root for 'shell'; over time speakers formed compounds like 'deshell'/'de-shell' in Modern English to express removal of a shell.

Initially it carried the straightforward sense 'to remove a shell', and this meaning has remained essentially the same in modern usage.