'alkaligenous' originates from the combination of 'alkali' and the suffix '-genous', where 'alkali' refers to a basic, ionic salt of an alkali metal or alkaline earth metal, and '-genous' means 'producing or generating'.

'alkali' from Arabic 'al-qaly', meaning 'ashes of the saltwort', combined with the Greek-derived suffix '-genous'.

Initially, it meant 'producing alkali', and this meaning has remained consistent in modern usage.