'man-made' originates from the combination of 'man' and 'made', where 'man' refers to human beings and 'made' is the past participle of 'make', meaning 'to create'.

'man-made' evolved from the Old English word 'mann' meaning 'human' and 'macian' meaning 'to make', eventually forming the modern English term 'man-made'.

Initially, it meant 'created by humans', and this meaning has largely remained the same in modern usage.