'non-parrotlike' originates from English, formed by the negative prefix 'non-' + 'parrotlike', where 'non-' meant 'not' and 'parrotlike' meant 'like a parrot' (made from 'parrot' + the adjectival suffix '-like').

'parrot' itself comes into English via Old French 'perroquet' and is ultimately related to Latin/Greek terms for the bird (e.g. Latinized 'psittacus' from Greek 'psittakos'); the suffix '-like' comes from Old English '-lic' meaning 'having the form of' or 'like'; the prefix 'non-' is from Latin 'non' meaning 'not'. The compound 'parrotlike' was created by adding '-like' to 'parrot', and 'non-' was later attached to form 'non-parrotlike'.

Initially, the components simply meant 'not' + 'like a parrot'; over time the compounded adjective has been used both literally (not resembling a parrot) and figuratively (not imitative), but the core negation of 'parrot-likeness' has remained.