'landbird-like' originates from Modern English, specifically the compound of 'landbird' + the adjectival suffix '-like', where 'land' meant 'land', 'bird' meant 'bird', and '-like' denoted 'similar to' or 'having the form of'.

'landbird' itself is a compound of Old English 'land' (from Old English 'land') and 'bird' (from Old English 'bridde'/'bridd'), while the suffix '-like' traces to Old English '-līc' meaning 'body' or 'form' and developed into a productive adjectival suffix (as in 'childlike'); these elements combined in Modern English to form 'landbird-like'.

Initially the elements referred separately to 'land' and 'bird' and the suffix indicated form or likeness; over time the compound came to be used adjectivally to mean 'resembling a land bird' in a single descriptive phrase.