'stall-prone' is a compound formed from 'stall' + '-prone'. 'stall' originates from Old English, specifically the word 'steall' (a noun meaning 'place, stall'); the verb sense 'to stop or cause to stop' developed in Middle English. '-prone' originates from Latin, specifically the word 'pronus', where 'pronus' meant 'inclined' or 'bent forward'.

'stall-prone' was created in modern English by combining the verb/noun 'stall' (Middle English forms such as 'stallen'/'steall') with the adjectival suffix '-prone' (from Latin via Old French), yielding the compound adjective meaning 'inclined to stall'.

Initially, 'stall' referred to a place to stand (a stall) and later developed the sense 'to cause to stop'; over time the compound 'stall-prone' came to mean 'likely to stop' or 'likely to fail to make progress'.