'non-starch' originates from Latin, specifically the prefix 'non' where 'non' meant 'not', combined with English 'starch'.

'starch' changed from Old English word 'stearc' (meaning 'stiff' or 'strong') and Middle English 'starch' and eventually became the modern English word 'starch'; the negative prefix 'non-' was borrowed into English from Latin 'non' via Old French and Middle English, forming compounds like 'non-starch' in modern English.

Initially, 'starch' referred to 'stiffness' and substances used to stiffen; over time it came to mean the carbohydrate substance extracted from plants. 'Non-starch' was later formed in modern usage to mean simply 'not starch' and retains that straightforward negative meaning.