'artificial-sounding' originates from English, formed by combining the adjective 'artificial' and the present participle 'sounding' (from the verb 'sound'), where 'artificial' originally related to skill or artful making and 'sound' referred to emitting or having a sound.

'artificial' comes into English via Old French from Latin 'artificialis' (from 'artificium', combining 'ars/art-' meaning 'skill, art' and 'facere' meaning 'to make'); 'sound' (verb/noun) has Old English/Germanic roots (Old English forms referring to noise or the action of making a sound) and developed into Middle and Modern English 'sound'. The compound 'artificial-sounding' is a modern English formation combining these elements to describe the quality of a sound.

Initially, 'artificial' meant 'made by art or skill (not occurring naturally)' and 'sound/sounding' meant 'making or producing a sound'; over time the compound came to mean 'having a sound that gives the impression of being not natural or made artificially.'