'non-starch-storing' is a compound formed from the prefix 'non-' and the nouns 'starch' and 'store' (present participle 'storing'). 'Non-' originates from Latin 'non' meaning 'not'; 'starch' comes ultimately from Old English 'stearc' where the root meant 'stiff'; 'store' (source of 'storing') derives from Old French 'estorer'/'estorer' (to supply) and Middle English 'storen' meaning 'to store, put away'.

'starch' changed from Old English 'stearc' (meaning 'stiff', referring to the stiffening property of starch) into Middle English 'starch' and the modern English 'starch'; 'store' came from Old French 'estorer', entered Middle English as 'storen', and developed into the modern verb 'store', with 'storing' as its present participle; the compound 'non-starch-storing' is a modern English compound combining these elements.

Initially the component 'starch' referenced the property of stiffness (from which the food substance name arose), but 'starch' has long meant the carbohydrate substance; 'non-starch-storing' has the straightforward modern meaning 'not storing starch' with little semantic drift since its coinage as a technical compound.