'low-silica' originates from Modern English, specifically the compound of 'low' and 'silica', where 'low' comes from Old English 'hlāw' meaning 'not high' and 'silica' comes from New Latin 'silica' referring to flint or silicon dioxide.

'silica' derived from Latin 'silex'/'silicis' meaning 'flint' and later came into scientific use in New Latin as 'silica' for silicon dioxide; 'low-silica' developed as a descriptive compound in modern technical English.

Initially 'silica' referred to 'flint' or hard stones; over time it shifted to the chemical meaning 'silicon dioxide', and 'low-silica' came to mean 'containing little silicon dioxide' in modern usage.