'non-micronucleated' is formed by the prefix 'non-' (from Latin 'non', meaning 'not') attached to 'micronucleated', where 'micro-' comes from Greek 'mikros' meaning 'small' and 'nucleus' comes from Latin 'nucleus' meaning 'kernel' or 'core'.

'micronucleus' was coined by combining Greek 'mikros' ('small') with Latin 'nucleus'; adding the suffix '-ate' produced 'micronucleate' (adjectival/verb form), which yielded the past-participial adjective 'micronucleated'; the negative prefix 'non-' was later attached to produce 'non-micronucleated'.

Originally referring to 'a small nucleus' in a literal anatomical sense, the term evolved in cell biology to mean 'having micronuclei' (micronuclear formation); with the prefix 'non-' it denotes the absence of that condition: 'not having micronuclei'.