'rarely-shown' originates from the combination of 'rarely' and 'shown', where 'rarely' means 'not often' and 'shown' is the past participle of 'show', meaning 'to display'.

'rarely' comes from Middle English 'rarelī', and 'shown' is derived from Old English 'sceawian', which evolved into the modern English 'show'.

Initially, 'rarely' meant 'seldom' and 'shown' meant 'displayed', and this meaning has largely remained the same in modern usage.