'windward-oriented' originates from the combination of 'windward' (from Old English/Middle English 'windweard') and 'oriented' (from Latin via Old French 'orienter'), where 'wind' meant 'moving air' and the suffix '‑ward' meant 'direction' and 'orient' (Latin 'oriens') meant 'rising' or 'the east' later generalised to 'direction'.

'windward' changed from Old English 'windweard' into Middle English 'windward' and kept the sense 'toward the wind'; 'orient' passed from Latin 'oriens'/'orientare' into Old French 'orienter' and Middle English 'orient', producing the past/participle form 'oriented' and allowing the compound 'windward-oriented'.

Initially, elements meant 'the direction of the wind' ('windward') and 'to turn toward or set a direction' ('orient'); combined, they came to mean 'directed or facing toward the wind', a specific spatial orientation.