'ether-linked' is a modern English compound formed from 'ether' and the past-participle adjective 'linked'. 'Ether' originates from Greek, specifically the word 'aither' (αἰθήρ), where 'aither' meant 'upper air' or 'pure, bright air'; 'linked' comes from the verb 'link', the modern English verb meaning 'to tie or connect'.

'ether' entered English via Latin/Neo-Latin (Latin 'aether') in the early modern period, later adopted into scientific chemistry to name a class of organic compounds; 'link' has Germanic origins and developed into the modern verb 'link' meaning 'to join'. The compound adjective 'ether-linked' arose in technical chemical usage (19th–20th century) to describe structures containing ether linkages.

Initially 'ether' referred to the upper or pure air in classical cosmology; over time it came to denote a class of chemical compounds (ethers). Combined with 'linked', the compound came to specifically mean 'connected by an ether bond' in chemical contexts.