'nonshiny-fruited' originates from Modern English, formed by the negative prefix 'non-' (from Old English/Proto-Germanic roots meaning 'not'), + 'shiny' (from 'shine', Old English 'scīnan', meaning 'to emit light or have gloss') + the adjectival/past-participial form of 'fruit' ('fruited', ultimately from Latin 'fructus' via Old French), together meaning 'having fruits that are not shiny'.

'nonshiny-fruited' is a recent compound formation in botanical and descriptive English, emerging from constructions like 'non-shiny fruit' and later standardized in hyphenated adjectival form 'nonshiny-fruited' for concise technical description.

Initially, the components simply conveyed 'not shiny' + 'fruit(ed)'; over time the hyphenated compound came to function as a single technical adjective meaning 'bearing non-shiny (dull) fruits' in botanical contexts.