'cell-sourced' originates from Modern English compound formation combining 'cell' and the past-participle adjective form of 'source' (i.e., 'sourced'). 'cell' ultimately comes from Latin 'cella' meaning 'small room' or 'storeroom', and 'source' comes via Old French from Latin roots meaning 'to rise' (the word came to mean 'origin' or 'place of origin').

Each element entered English through different routes: 'cell' came into English via Old French/Latin as 'cella' and developed the biological sense 'basic structural unit' in modern science; 'source' entered Middle English from Old French 'sourse' with the meaning 'origin'. The compound 'cell-sourced' is a recent coinage in scientific and industrial contexts (20th–21st century) to describe materials or products originating from cultured or isolated cells.

Initially, 'cell' referred to a small room and 'source' to a place where something arises; over time, 'cell' acquired the biological sense 'basic unit of life' and the modern compound came to mean 'originating from biological cells' rather than from whole organisms or synthetic processes.