'open-fruited' originates from Modern English, formed by the combination of the adjective 'open' and the past-participial adjective-forming use of 'fruit' ('fruited'), where 'open' meant 'not closed' and 'fruit' meant 'a seed-bearing structure of a plant.'

'open-fruited' developed as a compound adjective in botanical English in the 18th–19th centuries (from the phrase 'open fruit' or 'open-fruited'), reflecting descriptive use in plant morphology and taxonomy.

Initially it meant literally 'having open fruit,' and over time it has remained a technical descriptive term in botany with essentially the same meaning ('having fruits that open to release seeds').