'neurilemma-free' originates from Modern English, formed by combining 'neurilemma' and the suffix '-free', where 'neurilemma' referred to the nerve sheath and '-free' meant 'without'.

'neurilemma' originates from Neo-Latin 'neurilemma', ultimately from Greek 'neuron' meaning 'nerve' and 'lemma' meaning 'sheath'; it entered English in the 19th century as a technical anatomical term. The productive English suffix '-free' has long been used to make adjectives meaning 'without'.

Initially, 'neurilemma' meant 'nerve sheath' and '-free' meant 'without'; combined as 'neurilemma-free' the compound has a literal meaning 'without neurilemma' and has remained stable as a descriptive anatomical term.