'accessory-fruited' originates from Modern English, combining 'accessory' (ultimately from Latin 'accessorius' via Old French 'accessoire'), where 'accessorius' meant 'additional' or 'subordinate', and 'fruit' (from Latin 'fructus'), where 'fructus' meant 'produce' or 'enjoyment'. The English suffix '-ed' forms an adjective meaning 'having' or 'bearing'.

'accessory-fruited' developed from the noun phrase 'accessory fruit' used in botanical Latin and early English botanical works in the 18th–19th centuries; the adjectival form 'accessory-fruited' emerged in modern botanical English to describe plants that bear accessory fruits.

Initially 'accessory' meant simply 'additional' and 'fruit' referred broadly to produce; over time the compound specialized in botanical usage to denote fruits whose fleshy parts arise largely from non-ovary tissues (a technical botanical sense).