'ovarian-adjacent' originates from modern English as a compound of 'ovarian' and 'adjacent'. 'ovarian' comes from Latin 'ovarium' (meaning 'egg receptacle'), and 'adjacent' derives from Latin 'adjacens' (from 'adjacere'), meaning 'lying near' or 'next to'.

'ovarian' developed from Latin 'ovarium' → New Latin/English 'ovary' → adjective form 'ovarian'; 'adjacent' passed from Latin 'adjacens' into Old French and then Middle English as 'adjacent', keeping the sense of 'lying near' into modern English. The compound 'ovarian-adjacent' is a straightforward modern English combination used in medical contexts.

Initially the components meant 'relating to an ovary' ('ovarian') and 'lying near' ('adjacent'); combined in modern usage they mean 'located next to an ovary' with little semantic shift beyond compositional formation.