'Dipterocarpus' originates from Greek, specifically from the elements 'diptero-' and 'karpos', where 'diptero-' meant 'two-winged' and 'karpos' meant 'fruit'.

'Dipterocarpus' was formed in New Latin/botanical Latin in the 19th century from Greek elements and adopted as the scientific genus name 'Dipterocarpus'.

Initially it referred to the idea of a 'two-winged fruit'; over time the term came to denote the genus of trees characterized by such fruit and now identifies that group taxonomically.