'target-specific' is a modern compound formed from 'target' and 'specific'. 'target' originates from Old French, specifically the word 'targette', where 'targette' meant 'a small shield' (later 'aim' or 'object'); 'specific' originates from Latin, specifically the word 'specificus' (via Medieval Latin), where the root 'species' meant 'kind' or 'form'.

'target' changed from Old French 'targette' into Middle English 'target' (originally a small shield, later 'aim' or 'object'), and 'specific' passed from Latin 'specificus' through Medieval Latin/Old French into English; the compound 'target-specific' emerged in modern technical usage (20th century onward) in fields like pharmacology and marketing.

Initially the components meant 'small shield' (target) and 'of a kind' (specific); over time 'target' came to mean an object or aim and 'specific' came to mean 'particular/definite', and the compound evolved to mean 'limited or applicable to a particular target'.