'word-medial' originates from English, specifically the words 'word' and 'medial', where 'word' meant 'speech, utterance' in Old English and 'medialis' (the Latin root of 'medial') meant 'middle'.

'word-medial' changed from the modern compound combining Old English 'word' with the adjective 'medial' (from Latin 'medialis' via Medieval/Scientific Latin and Middle English); the compound arose in technical linguistic usage to describe position within a word.

Initially 'medial' meant 'pertaining to the middle', and over time, when combined with 'word', it developed the specialized linguistic sense 'occurring in the middle of a word'.