'rarely-shipped' originates from the combination of 'rarely,' meaning 'not often,' and 'shipped,' the past participle of 'ship,' meaning 'to send goods.'

'Rarely' comes from Middle English 'rarelī,' and 'shipped' comes from Old English 'scipian,' meaning 'to put on a ship.'

Initially, 'rarely' meant 'seldom' and 'shipped' meant 'to send by ship,' but together they evolved to describe items infrequently sent.