'multi-core' is a compound formed from the prefix 'multi-' and the noun 'core'. 'multi-' originates from Latin, specifically the word 'multus', where 'multi-' meant 'many'. 'core' originates from Old French 'coeur' (from Latin 'cor'), where the root meant 'heart' or 'center'.

The element 'core' developed from Old French 'coeur' (Latin 'cor') meaning 'heart' or 'center', later used in English to mean a central or essential part. In technology, 'core' came to be applied to units of computation (e.g., 'processor core') in the late 20th century. The compound 'multi-core' emerged in modern English in the early 21st century to describe processors containing multiple cores.

Initially, 'core' meant 'heart' or 'central part' and later acquired technical senses such as an individual processing unit. 'Multi-core' originally meant 'having multiple cores' and specifically came to denote CPUs with two or more processing cores; that technical meaning remains standard today.