'short-whiskered' originates from English, formed as a compound of the adjective 'short' and the noun 'whisker' with the adjectival suffix '-ed' to mean 'having whiskers that are short.'

'short' comes from Old English 'sceort' meaning 'not long'; 'whisker' developed in Middle English from 'whisk' (to move quickly or sweep) with the agent/derivative suffix '-er', and the adjectival form 'whiskered' was later combined with 'short' in Modern English to produce the compound 'short-whiskered'.

Initially the components meant 'not long' (short) and 'a facial sensory hair' (whisker); combined as a compound the meaning has remained literal — 'having short whiskers.'