'ill-coordinated' originates from English, composed of the prefix 'ill-' (from Old English 'ill', meaning 'bad' or 'poorly') and 'coordinated', which derives from Latin 'coordinatus' from 'coordinare', where 'co-' meant 'together' and 'ordinare' meant 'to arrange'.

'coordinated' changed from Latin 'coordinare' into Late Latin/Medieval Latin forms and entered Middle English as 'coordinate' (via Romance influence), eventually becoming the Modern English participial adjective 'coordinated'; the negative prefix 'ill-' stems from Old English 'ill' and developed into the modern combining form 'ill-'.

Initially, the parts meant 'badly' (ill-) and 'arranged together' (coordinated); over time the compound came to mean 'badly arranged or lacking coordination' in both physical and organizational senses.