'woodlouse-like' is formed in English from the noun 'woodlouse' + the suffix '-like', where 'woodlouse' is a compound of 'wood' and 'louse' and '-like' means 'similar to'.

'woodlouse' itself comes from the English words 'wood' and 'louse' (Old English 'wudu' and 'lūs'), while the adjectival suffix '-like' derives from Old English '-lic' / Middle English '-like', and these elements combined in modern English to form compounds such as 'woodlouse-like'.

Initially the components referred literally to a 'louse of the wood' and the suffix to similarity; over time the compound has been used adjectivally to describe things that resemble a woodlouse, maintaining that basic sense of likeness.