'hook-billed' originates from Modern English as a compound of 'hook' and 'billed'; 'hook' originates from Old English, specifically the word 'hōc', where 'hōc' meant 'hook', and 'bill' (sense 'beak') originates from Old English, specifically the word 'bile', where 'bile' meant 'beak'.

'hook-billed' formed in Modern English by combining the noun 'hook' and the past-participial/adjectival form 'billed' (from Middle English 'bile'/'bill' meaning 'beak'); over time 'bile' became Middle English 'bill', 'billed' came to mean 'having a bill', and the compound 'hook-billed' developed to specify a hooked bill.

Initially the elements referred simply to 'hook' and 'bill' (beak); the compound has been used to specify the particular attribute 'having a hook-shaped bill' and has retained this specialized descriptive meaning.