'matte-finished' is formed from 'matte' + 'finish' + the past-participle suffix '-ed'. 'Matte' originates from French 'mat', meaning 'dull', and 'finish' originates from Old French 'finir', from Latin 'finire' meaning 'to end' or 'to bring to a finish'.

'matte' entered English from French (modern French 'mat') meaning 'dull' and was used in contexts like painting and photography; 'finish' came via Old French from Latin 'finire'. The compound 'matte finish' arose in industrial and photographic contexts in the 19th–20th centuries and later produced the adjective/past participle form 'matte-finished'.

Initially, 'matte' described a dull or dead quality and 'finish' meant an end or surface treatment; over time the compound came to mean a specific type of surface treatment that produces a non-reflective appearance, and 'matte-finished' describes objects treated in that way.