'rarely-examined' originates from the combination of 'rarely' and 'examined', where 'rarely' comes from Old English 'hrēor' meaning 'seldom', and 'examined' from Latin 'examinare', meaning 'to weigh or test'.

'rarely' changed from Old English 'hrēor' to Middle English 'rarelī', and 'examined' evolved from Latin 'examinare' to Middle English 'examinen', eventually forming the modern English compound 'rarely-examined'.

Initially, 'rarely' meant 'seldom' and 'examined' meant 'to test or scrutinize', and together they convey the idea of something not often scrutinized.