'sweat-reducing' originates from English, specifically the words 'sweat' and 'reduce', where 'sweat' ultimately comes from Old English 'swæt' meaning 'perspiration' and 'reduce' comes from Latin 'reducere' in which 're-' meant 'back' and 'ducere' meant 'to lead'.

'sweat' changed from the Old English word 'swæt' and 'reduce' passed from Latin 'reducere' through Old French and Middle English forms (e.g. Middle English 'reducen'), and the modern compound adjective 'sweat-reducing' was formed in modern English by combining the noun and the present-participle form of the verb.

Initially the component 'reduce' meant 'to lead back' in Latin, but in English it came to mean 'to make smaller or less'; combined with 'sweat' the compound came to mean 'making perspiration smaller or less'.