'motor-planning-impaired' is a modern English compound formed from 'motor' + 'planning' + 'impaired'. 'motor' originates from Latin 'motor', from the verb 'movere' meaning 'to move'. 'planning' is the gerund of 'plan', where 'plan' entered English from French 'plan' (ultimately from Latin 'planum', meaning 'flat surface' and later 'scheme/diagram'). 'impaired' derives from the verb 'impair', which entered English via Old French (variants such as 'emperer'/'empeirer') meaning 'to make worse'.

Each element followed its own path into modern English: Latin 'movere' → medieval/modern Latin 'motor' → English 'motor'; French 'plan' → English 'plan' → verb 'to plan' → gerund 'planning'; Old French verb (e.g. 'emperer'/'empeirer') → Middle English 'impair' → past participle 'impaired'. These elements were combined in contemporary clinical and descriptive English to form the compound 'motor-planning-impaired'.

Individually the components had general meanings ('motor' = mover/movement; 'plan' = scheme; 'impair' = make worse). Over time they have been combined in clinical/diagnostic language to refer specifically to deficits in the cognitive-motor process of planning movement: now 'motor-planning-impaired' conveys 'having impaired motor planning'.