'non-echoing' is a compound formed in English from the prefix 'non-' and the noun 'echo'. 'non-' ultimately comes from Latin 'non' where 'non' meant 'not'; 'echo' originates from Greek 'ἠχώ' (ēkhō) where it meant 'sound' or 'echo'.

'echo' entered English via Latin and Old French from Greek 'ēkhō' and became established in Middle English as 'echo'; the negative prefix 'non-' has been productive in English since the early Modern period, and the compound 'non-echoing' developed by combining 'non-' with the present-participial adjective 'echoing'.

Initially, 'echo' referred to a repeated or reflected sound; over time the compound 'non-echoing' came to mean 'not producing or reflecting echoes', describing spaces or materials that prevent reverberation.