'airspeed' originates from the combination of 'air' and 'speed', where 'air' refers to the atmosphere and 'speed' refers to the rate of motion.

'airspeed' was formed by combining the words 'air' and 'speed' in the early 20th century to describe the velocity of aircraft.

Initially, it meant 'the speed of an aircraft relative to the air', and this meaning has largely remained the same in modern usage.