'limb-loss' is a modern English compound formed from the words 'limb' and 'loss'; 'limb' originates from Old English 'lim' meaning 'member (of the body)', and 'loss' originates from Old English 'los' meaning 'destruction, deprivation'.

'limb' developed from Old English 'lim' (from Proto-Germanic *limaz) meaning 'member of the body', while 'loss' comes from Old English 'los' meaning 'destruction or deprivation'; the modern compound 'limb-loss' arose in recent English usage to name the condition combining those senses.

Originally the component words referred separately to a 'body member' and to 'deprivation'; combined in modern usage they specifically denote the medical or physical condition of missing limb(s).