'retrievability' originates from English, specifically formed from the verb 'retrieve' plus the suffix '-ability'; 'retrieve' itself comes from Old French 'retrouver' (to find again), where the prefix 're-' meant 'again' and 'trouver' meant 'to find'.

'retrieve' changed from Old French 'retrouver' and Middle English forms (e.g. Middle English 'retrieven') into the modern English verb 'retrieve', and the modern English noun 'retrievability' was formed later by adding the productive suffix '-ability' to denote a state or quality.

Initially, the root idea meant 'to find again' (as in 'retrieve'); over time the derived noun 'retrievability' came to denote the property or ease of being retrieved (especially in technical contexts such as information retrieval).