'height-specific' is a modern English compound formed from the English word 'height' and the adjective 'specific' (the latter ultimately from Latin 'specificus', from 'species' meaning 'kind').

'height' derives from Old English (e.g. 'hēahþu' from 'hēah' meaning 'high'), while 'specific' came into English via Latin 'specificus' and French 'spécifique'; the two elements were combined in modern English to form the compound 'height-specific'.

The components originally meant 'highness' ('height') and 'particular/kind' ('specific'); combined in modern usage they denote something that is particular to a certain height (i.e., 'specific to height').