'scientific-mindedness' originates from English, formed by the adjective 'scientific' and the noun-forming element 'mindedness'. 'Scientific' ultimately derives from Latin 'scientia', where 'scientia' meant 'knowledge', and 'mindedness' derives from the Old English root for 'mind' combined with suffixes that create an adjectival and then nominal form.

'scientific' changed from Latin 'scientia' into French 'scientifique' and then into English 'scientific' via modern borrowing; 'mindedness' evolved from Old English 'gemynd'/'mynd' (mind) into Middle/Modern English 'mind' plus the adjectival '-ed' and noun-forming '-ness', producing constructions such as 'mind-ed-ness' to indicate a state of having a particular mind.

Initially the components meant 'knowledge' (scientia) and 'mind' (gemynd), but combined in English to mean 'the disposition or quality of having a scientific way of thinking' rather than the separate literal senses.