'mutex-based' is a technical compound formed in modern English from 'mutex' + 'based'. 'mutex' itself originates as a shortening of the phrase 'mutual exclusion' (English technical coinage), where 'mutual' ultimately derives from Latin 'mutuus' meaning 'reciprocal' and 'exclusion' from Latin 'excludere' meaning 'to shut out'. 'based' comes from Old French 'baser' (via Medieval Latin and Latin 'basis') meaning 'foundation'.

'mutex' arose in mid-20th-century computing literature as an abbreviation of 'mutual exclusion'; that abbreviation entered technical English and later combined with 'based' to form the compound adjective 'mutex-based' used to describe designs that rely on mutexes.

Initially it referred specifically to mechanisms relying on a 'mutex' (a mutual-exclusion lock) for serialization; over time it has come to more generally describe designs, algorithms, or components that depend on mutexes for concurrency control.