'grief-stricken' originates from the combination of 'grief' and 'stricken', where 'grief' comes from Old French 'grief', meaning 'heavy' or 'burdensome', and 'stricken' is the past participle of 'strike', meaning 'to hit or affect'.

'grief' evolved from the Old French word 'grief', and 'stricken' from the Old English 'strican', eventually forming the modern English compound adjective 'grief-stricken'.

Initially, 'grief' meant 'heavy or burdensome', and 'stricken' meant 'hit or affected'. Over time, 'grief-stricken' evolved to mean 'overwhelmed by grief'.