'carb-focused' is a modern compound formed from the clipped informal noun 'carb' (short for 'carbohydrate') and the adjective 'focused'. 'Carbohydrate' itself comes from Neo-Latin/Modern scientific formation combining Latin 'carbo' ('coal', 'carbon') and Greek-derived '-hydrate' from Greek 'hudōr' (ὕδωρ) meaning 'water'.

'carb' developed as an English clipping of 'carbohydrate' in 20th-century informal usage; 'focused' comes from Latin 'focus' (hearth, later 'center') via modern English 'focus' + '-ed' to form adjectives. The compound 'carb-focused' arose in contemporary nutrition and popular-diet discourse as a descriptive adjective.

Initially, 'carbohydrate' referred to a chemical notion of 'carbon + water'; over time 'carb' emerged colloquially to refer to foods high in carbohydrates, and 'carb-focused' evolved to mean 'giving priority to carbohydrates' in dietary or product contexts.