'image-like' originates from English, composed of the word 'image' (from Latin 'imago' via Old French 'image') and the suffix '-like' (from Old English 'lic', where 'lic' meant 'body, form').

'image' changed from Latin 'imago' to Old French 'image' and entered Middle English as 'image'; the suffix '-like' came from Old English 'lic' and through Middle English '-like' became the Modern English suffix used to form adjectives such as 'image-like'.

Initially, 'image' meant 'a likeness or representation' and '-like' meant 'having the form of'; over time the compound came to mean 'resembling or having the qualities of an image' in modern usage.