'silver-coating' is a compound of 'silver' and 'coating'. 'Silver' originates from Old English 'seolfor', ultimately from Proto-Germanic '*silubra', where the root meant 'the metal silver'. 'Coating' derives from the verb 'coat' plus the suffix '-ing'; 'coat' comes from Old English 'cote' meaning 'a covering or garment'.

'silver' changed from Old English 'seolfor' to Middle English forms like 'sylver' and eventually to the modern English 'silver'. The verb 'coat' (Old English 'cote') developed into the noun and verbal forms in Middle English, and the noun 'coating' arose by adding the productive suffix '-ing' to form 'coating' as 'a covering applied' in Modern English; these elements combined into the compound 'silver-coating' in technical and industrial usage.

Initially, the components referred separately to the metal 'silver' and to a 'coat' or covering; over time the compound came to denote specifically an applied metallic layer (often by processes such as silvering or electroplating) with technical meanings in optics, manufacturing, and materials science.