'agamospecies' is formed from the Greek-derived prefix 'a(gamo)-' (from Greek 'agamos', meaning 'without marriage' or 'unmarried') combined with the Latin word 'species' (meaning 'kind' or 'type').

'species' comes from Latin 'species' ('appearance, kind'), which passed into scientific Latin and English; the prefix 'agamo-' derives from Greek 'agamos' ('a-' meaning 'without' + 'gamos' meaning 'marriage'). The compound 'agamospecies' was coined in biological taxonomy in the 20th century to denote species-like units of asexual organisms.

Originally the components meant 'without marriage' + 'kind'; over time the compound acquired the technical meaning 'a species (or species-like unit) defined by asexual reproduction'.