'fiber-structured' originates from Modern English as a compound of 'fiber' and 'structured'. 'fiber' comes from Latin 'fibra' (via Old French 'fibre'), where 'fibra' meant 'fiber', and 'structure' comes from Latin 'structura' (via Old French 'structure'), where 'structura' meant 'a fitting together or arrangement'.

'fiber' passed from Latin 'fibra' into Old French 'fibre' and then into Middle/Modern English as 'fiber' (US spelling) / 'fibre' (UK spelling). 'structure' comes from Latin 'structura' to Old French 'structure' and into Middle and Modern English. The compound form 'fiber-structured' is a relatively recent technical formation (20th century onward) in scientific and engineering contexts to describe materials or tissues arranged in fibers.

Initially, 'fiber' and 'structure' referred separately to 'a threadlike element' and 'an arrangement or construction'; over time their compound 'fiber-structured' came to specifically denote materials or systems whose internal organization is dominated by fibers or fiber-like elements, a meaning that has been stable in technical usage.