'drought-susceptible' originates from the combination of 'drought' and 'susceptible', where 'drought' refers to a prolonged period of dry weather and 'susceptible' means likely to be influenced or harmed by a particular thing.

'drought' comes from Old English 'drūgath', and 'susceptible' from Latin 'susceptibilis', meaning 'capable of taking or receiving'.

Initially, 'drought' referred to a lack of rain, and 'susceptible' meant 'capable of receiving'. Together, they evolved to describe something likely to be affected by dry conditions.