'manuscript-like' originates from Modern English, specifically the elements 'manuscript' and the suffix '-like', where 'manuscript' meant 'a handwritten document' and '-like' meant 'having the form of'.

'manuscript' changed from Latin 'manu scriptus' (literally 'written by hand') / Medieval Latin 'manuscriptus' and eventually became the modern English word 'manuscript'; the productive English suffix '-like' (from Old English '-lic' / Proto-Germanic) was later added to form compounds such as 'manuscript-like'.

Initially, 'manuscript' meant 'written by hand'; over time it broadened to mean 'an author's original text or draft' and now also covers older hand-written documents and, by extension, adjectival compounds meaning 'resembling such a document'.