The word 'splayed' originates from the verb 'splay', which emerged in Middle English as a contraction of 'display'. 'Display' itself entered English from Anglo-French 'despleier', ultimately derived from Latin 'displicare', meaning 'to scatter' (from 'dis-', 'apart', and 'plicare', 'to fold'). The semantic journey is one of simplification and specialization: from the broad concept of unfolding or scattering ('display'), 'splay' narrowed to describe the specific action of spreading or turning things outward, often at an angle. The '-ed' suffix simply marks its past tense or adjectival form, describing a state resulting from that action.

The word 'splayed' is the past tense/past participle form of the verb 'splay'. The root 'splay' is considered a simplex word in modern English. It is believed to be a shortened form or alteration of the Middle English word 'displayen', meaning 'to unfold or spread out'. Its functional role is as a lexical root.