'nonciliated' originates from the prefix 'non-' (from Latin 'non' meaning 'not') combined with 'ciliated,' which comes from Latin 'cilium' meaning 'eyelash' or 'hair-like projection'.

'cilium' in Latin gave rise to Late Latin/Medieval Latin forms such as 'ciliatus' ('having cilia'), which entered scientific English as 'ciliated'; the negative prefix 'non-' was later attached to create 'nonciliated'.

Initially 'cilium' literally meant 'eyelash'; over time its derived adjective 'ciliated' came to mean 'having hair-like projections (cilia)' in biological contexts, and 'nonciliated' came to mean 'not having those projections'.