'tissue-incompatible' originates from English, formed by combining 'tissue' and 'incompatible'. 'Tissue' ultimately derives from Latin via Old French, and 'incompatible' is formed from the negative prefix 'in-' plus 'compatible'.

'tissue' comes into English from Old French 'tissu' (from Latin 'texere', 'to weave') and shifted from meaning 'woven material' to include biological 'tissue'. 'Compatible' comes from Latin 'compatibilis' (com- 'together' + pati/ 'to bear'), and 'incompatible' developed by adding the negative prefix 'in-'. The compound 'tissue-incompatible' is a modern English technical formation combining those elements.

Initially 'tissue' referred primarily to woven material and 'compatible' to 'able to exist or act together'; over time 'tissue' gained the biological sense of bodily material, and 'tissue-incompatible' came to mean 'not suitable for contact with body tissue' in medical/biological contexts.