'hawk-like' is a compound formed from the noun 'hawk' + the adjectival suffix '-like' (Old English 'līc' meaning 'body' or 'form'), producing the sense 'having the form or nature of a hawk'.

'hawk' comes from Old English 'hafoc' (also attested in Middle English as 'hafoc'/'hawk'), ultimately from Proto-Germanic '*habukaz'; the suffix '-like' derives from Old English 'līc' (related to modern 'lick'/'like' in formation), and compounds such as 'hawk-like' developed in Middle to Early Modern English to describe resemblance.

Initially the elements referred simply to the bird 'hawk' and the notion of 'form' ('-like'); over time the compound retained the literal sense of resembling a hawk and also acquired figurative senses (e.g., 'hawk-like' behavior meaning aggressive or bellicose).