internet content meant primarily to lure a viewer to click on it, by 2011, from click (n.) + bait (n.).
Entries linking to click-bait
click n.
"a small, sharp sound," 1610s, from click (v.). As a sound in certain South African languages, 1837. Click-beetle attested from 1830, so called from its ability, when on its back, to spring into the air with an audible click.
bait n.
"food put on a hook or trap to attract prey," c. 1300, from Old Norse beita "food, bait," especially for fish, from beita "cause to bite," from Proto-Germanic *baitjan, causative of *bitan, from PIE root *bheid- "to split," with derivatives in Germanic referring to biting.
The noun is cognate with Old Norse beit "pasture, pasturage," Old English bat "food." The figurative sense "means of enticement" is from c. 1400.