'AChE-inhibiting' originates from modern scientific abbreviation 'AChE', which is short for 'acetylcholinesterase' (a compound formed from 'acetyl' + 'choline' + 'esterase'). 'acetyl' ultimately derives from Latin 'acetum' meaning 'vinegar' (referring to acetic acid), 'choline' from Greek 'chole' meaning 'bile', and the suffix '-ase' (used to name enzymes) from biochemical nomenclature.

'AChE-inhibiting' developed in 20th-century biochemical terminology as a shortened form of the longer adjective 'acetylcholinesterase-inhibiting'; authors increasingly used the abbreviation 'AChE' in place of the full enzyme name, producing the compound adjective 'AChE-inhibiting'.

Initially it was a literal descriptive compound meaning 'inhibiting acetylcholinesterase'; over time it has remained largely literal but came to be used broadly as a technical adjective in pharmacology and toxicology to classify substances.