'hot-foiled' originates from English, specifically the compound 'hot-foil', where 'hot' meant 'high in temperature' and 'foil' meant 'a thin sheet of metal used for covering or decoration'.

'hot-foil' developed as a compound in modern English in reference to printing and decorative processes (related to 'foil stamping' and 'hot stamping'); the verb forms 'to hot-foil' and past/p.p. 'hot-foiled' arose from that usage in the 19th–20th century as the technique became common in commercial printing.

Initially it referred primarily to the act of applying metallic foil with heat; over time it also came to be used adjectivally to describe objects that have been treated in that way (i.e. 'hot-foiled' meaning 'having been foil-stamped').