'glycine-associated' is a modern English compound formed from 'glycine' and 'associated'. 'Glycine' ultimately comes from Greek 'glykys' meaning 'sweet', via the 19th-century chemical name for the amino acid, and 'associate' comes from Latin 'associare' meaning 'to join with'.

'glycine' was coined in modern chemical nomenclature in the early 19th century (from Greek 'glykys' through Neo-Latin), while 'associate' entered English via Latin and Old French; the compound 'glycine-associated' is a contemporary English formation combining the noun and an adjectival past-participle.

Initially 'glykys' meant 'sweet'; over time the derived modern term 'glycine' came to mean the specific amino acid, and 'associate' originally meant 'to join with' and now commonly indicates a relation or connection; together they now mean 'having a relation to glycine'.