'Panoan-related' originates as a modern English compound of 'Panoan' (the name of the Panoan language family/peoples) and 'related' (from Latin via Old French and Middle English), where 'Panoan' denotes the ethnolinguistic group and 'related' meant 'connected' or 'having a relation'.

'Panoan' comes from the ethnonym for the Panoan peoples/languages recorded in the 19th century (via Spanish/Portuguese accounts); 'related' derives from Latin 'relatus' (past participle of 'referre', re- 'back' + ferre 'to carry') through Old French and Middle English to become modern English 'related'. The compound 'Panoan-related' was formed in modern English by combining these elements to describe a connection to the Panoan family.

Initially it referred simply to being 'connected to the Panoan peoples or languages'; this meaning has remained stable and is preserved in the modern compound 'Panoan-related'.