'Arabica' originates from Neo-Latin, specifically the word 'arabica', where 'arabicus' meant 'of Arabia'.

'Arabica' changed from Latin 'arabicus' (meaning 'of Arabia') and the Neo-Latin botanical usage 'arabica' into modern English 'Arabica', used from the 18th–19th century onward to name the coffee species.

Initially it meant 'of or from Arabia', but over time it evolved into the specific botanical and commercial meaning 'the coffee species Coffea arabica' or coffee made from its beans.