'hook-shaped' is a compound formed from the noun 'hook' and the past-participle adjective-forming element 'shaped'. 'Hook' originates from Old English 'hōc' (from Proto-Germanic *hukkō), where the root meant 'hook' or 'bent projection'. 'Shape' originates from Old English 'gesceap'/'sceap' (from Proto-Germanic *skapiz), where the root meant 'form' or 'creation'.

'hook' came into English from Old English 'hōc' and related Germanic roots; 'shape' came from Old English 'gesceap' and the verb 'shape' later produced the adjective 'shaped' (past participle). The compound 'hook-shaped' developed in Modern English by combining the noun with the participial adjective to mean 'having the shape of a hook'.

Initially, the elements referred literally to a 'hook' and to being 'formed' or 'shaped'; combined, they meant 'having the form of a hook' and this literal sense has largely remained unchanged in modern usage.