The compound adjective 'white-tailed' is a transparent and descriptive formation from native English elements. The first element, 'white', descends from the Proto-Germanic 'hwītaz', which itself derives from the Proto-Indo-European root 'ḱweyt-', meaning 'to shine' or 'bright', a semantic link that explains its association with light and the color white. The second element, 'tail', originates from the Old English 'tægl', related to the Proto-Germanic 'taglaz', referring to a hairy appendage. The suffix '-ed', used to form participial and denominal adjectives, is added to the noun compound 'white tail' to create an adjective meaning 'possessing a white tail'. This logical compounding process is a hallmark of English, directly describing a key physical characteristic, most famously of the white-tailed deer.

Structure: white (color) + tail (body part) + ed (adjective suffix) - white: From Old English 'hwīt', meaning the color white. Functional role: Descriptive element. - tail: From Old English 'tægl', meaning the hindmost part of an animal. Functional role: Core noun. - ed: From Old English '-ede', a suffix forming adjectives from nouns, meaning 'having, provided with'. Functional role: Adjectival suffix.