'nonhuman-induced' is formed in English from the negative prefix 'non-', the noun 'human', and the past participle 'induced', where 'non-' meant 'not', 'human' referred to 'a human being', and 'induce' ultimately comes from Latin 'inducere' meaning 'to lead into'.

'induce' changed from Latin 'inducere' to Old French 'induire' and then entered Middle English as forms like 'induce', while the productive English prefix 'non-' derives from Latin 'non' used in Medieval Latin and later English compounding; these elements combined in modern English to form compound descriptors such as 'nonhuman-induced'.

Initially, Latin 'inducere' meant 'to lead into'; over time 'induce' came to mean 'bring about' or 'cause', so 'induced' means 'caused by', and 'nonhuman-induced' therefore now means 'not caused by humans'.