'high-silica' originates from English, a compound of 'high' and 'silica', where 'high' meant 'elevated' and 'silica' referred to silicon dioxide; 'silica' itself comes from Latin 'silex'/'silicis' meaning 'flint' or hard stone.

'silica' was used in New Latin and scientific usage from the 19th century (from Latin 'silex'/'silicis'), and the compound 'high-silica' developed in technical and industrial English in the 20th century to describe materials with elevated silica content.

Initially the elements meant 'elevated' and 'flint/silicon dioxide' respectively; over time the compound came to be a technical adjective meaning 'having a high silica content' used in materials science and industry.