'ring-likeness' originates from the Old English element 'ring' (Old English 'hring'), combined with the adjective-forming suffix '-like' (from Old English '-lic') and the noun-forming suffix '-ness' (from Old English '-nes(s)').

'ring' changed from Proto-Germanic '*hringaz' to Old English 'hring' and eventually became the modern English 'ring'; the suffix '-lic' developed into Middle English '-lich' and the modern adjectival '-like'; '-nes(s)' became modern '-ness', and the compound formation produced 'ring-likeness' in modern English.

Initially, 'ring' meant 'a circular band or object', and with the later additions of '-like' and '-ness' the compound came to mean 'the quality of being like a ring' in modern usage.