'low-aleuric' originates from English compounding of 'low' and 'aleuric', where 'low' comes from Old English 'lāw' meaning 'not high/less' and 'aleuric' derives from Greek 'aleuron' (ἀλεύρον) meaning 'flour' (used in modern biology for the aleurone layer).

'aleuron' (Greek ἀλεύρον, 'flour') passed into Neo-Latin/scientific usage as 'aleurone' to name the protein-rich layer in cereal endosperm; from this developed the adjective 'aleuric' in scientific contexts, and in modern technical descriptions it has been combined with the English adjective 'low' to form the compound 'low-aleuric'.

Initially related to 'flour' in Greek, the root evolved to name a specific anatomical layer (the aleurone) in seeds; 'aleuric' came to mean 'relating to the aleurone layer', and 'low-aleuric' now specifically denotes having a thin or reduced aleurone layer.