'Colocasia' originates from Greek, specifically the word 'kolokasion' (Ancient Greek κολόκασιον), where 'kolokasion' meant 'taro'.

'Colocasia' passed into Late Latin as 'colocasia' and was later adopted into botanical Latin (used by taxonomists such as Linnaeus) as the genus name 'Colocasia'.

Initially it meant 'taro' (the plant or its corm), but over time it became the formal genus name for a group of related species; it can still be used informally to refer to taro.