'Toxotes' originates from Greek, specifically the word 'τοξότης (toxótēs)', where 'τοξον (tóxon)' meant 'bow' and the suffix '-της (-tēs)' meant 'one who' or 'person associated with'.

'Toxotes' comes directly from the Greek τοξότης; the biological genus name was later adopted in Modern Latin/Scientific nomenclature as 'Toxotes' for the archerfishes and then used unchanged in English zoological contexts.

Initially, in Greek the term meant 'archer' (a person who uses a bow); over time the same word was applied in scientific naming to a group of fishes because of their 'shooting' behavior, producing the modern zoological meaning referring to the genus of archerfishes.