'user-centeredness' originates from Modern English, combining 'user' (from Middle English and Old French roots meaning 'one who uses') and 'center/centre' (from Latin 'centrum' via Old French 'centre'), plus the suffix '-ness' (from Old English) where '-ness' meant 'state or quality'.

'user' derived from Old French and ultimately Latin roots related to 'use'; 'centre' came from Latin 'centrum' (from Greek 'kentron') and entered English via Old French and Middle English; the adjectival form 'user-centered' was formed by compounding 'user' + 'center(ed)', and the noun was produced by adding the Old English-derived suffix '-ness', resulting in 'user-centeredness'.

Initially the components meant 'one who uses' and 'central point'; when combined with the suffix, the term came to mean 'the state or quality of placing the user at the center' and has retained that specialized design and organizational sense in modern usage.