'early-morning' originates from Modern English as a compound of 'early' and 'morning'. 'early' originates from Old English, specifically the word 'ǣrlice', where 'ǣr' meant 'before'; 'morning' originates from Old English, specifically the word 'morgen', meaning 'morning, dawn'.

'early' changed from Old English 'ǣrlice' to Middle English forms such as 'erly' and eventually became the modern English word 'early'; 'morning' changed from Old English 'morgen' to Middle English 'morning' and then to the modern form.

Initially it meant 'belonging to or occurring in the earlier part (of the day) or near dawn'; over time the basic sense has remained stable, though hyphenation as 'early-morning' is a modern convention when used as a compound modifier.