'user-centred' originates from modern English as a compound of 'user' and 'centred', where 'user' referred to a person who uses something and 'centred' is the past-participial adjective formed from 'centre', meaning 'placed at the center'.

'user-centred' was formed in the 20th century from the noun 'user' (from Old English/Proto-Germanic roots) combined with the adjective 'centred' (from Middle English 'centre' borrowed from Old French and ultimately Latin 'centrum', from Greek 'kentron').

Initially a literal compound meaning 'placed at the center with respect to a user', it evolved into a technical and design term meaning 'designed with the user's needs as the primary consideration'.