'prose-like' originates from English, specifically the combination of 'prose' and the suffix '-like', where 'prose' comes from Latin 'prosa' via Old French 'prose' meaning 'straightforward discourse', and the suffix '-like' is Germanic in origin meaning 'having the form or character of'.

'prose' changed from Latin 'prosa' into Old French 'prose' and entered Middle English as 'prose'; later English formed compounds using the adjectival suffix '-like' (Old English/Germanic), producing formations such as 'prose-like'.

Initially, 'prose' meant 'straightforward discourse' in Latin and Old French; over time it came to mean 'ordinary written or spoken language without metrical structure', and 'prose-like' developed to mean 'resembling that ordinary, non-poetic style'.