'debt-prone' originates from the combination of 'debt' and 'prone', where 'debt' refers to money owed and 'prone' means likely to experience something.

'debt' comes from the Old French word 'dette', which evolved from the Latin 'debitum', meaning 'something owed'. 'Prone' comes from the Latin 'pronus', meaning 'leaning forward'.

Initially, 'debt' meant 'something owed', and 'prone' meant 'leaning forward'. Over time, 'prone' evolved to mean 'likely to experience', leading to the modern meaning of 'likely to incur debt'.