'urease-inhibiting' is a compound of the enzyme name 'urease' and the present-participle adjective 'inhibiting'. 'urease' originates from Neo-Latin 'urea' (from Latin/French 'urēa'), ultimately from Greek 'ouron' meaning 'urine', and the enzyme suffix '-ase' (coined in the late 19th century to name enzymes). 'inhibit' originates from Latin 'inhibēre' meaning 'to hold in, restrain'.

The element 'urease' was formed in modern scientific English by combining 'urea' + the enzyme suffix '-ase' (a naming convention for enzymes from the late 1800s). 'inhibit' passed into English from Latin via Old French and Middle English; the compound adjective 'urease-inhibiting' is a 20th-century scientific formation used in biochemical and agronomic contexts.

Initially 'inhibit' meant 'to hold in' or 'restrain'; over time it evolved in scientific contexts to mean 'to hinder or decrease biological/chemical activity', hence 'urease-inhibiting' now specifically denotes substances or actions that reduce urease activity.