'DC-AC' originates from English, combining the abbreviations 'DC' (from 'direct current') and 'AC' (from 'alternating current'), used to denote the conversion or relationship between the two forms of electrical current.

'DC' and 'AC' emerged as technical abbreviations in the late 19th century with the development of electrical engineering; the compound 'DC-AC' arose later as a concise way to refer to conversion processes or devices (notably the 'inverter') that change DC into AC.

Initially it simply described 'direct current to alternating current'; over time the term has also come to refer metonymically to the device that performs that conversion (the inverter) and related systems.