'amino-lytic' is a modern scientific compound formed from the combining form 'amino-' (from 'amine' / 'amino', itself from New Latin related to 'ammonia' and 19th-century chemical nomenclature) and the suffix '-lytic' (from Greek 'lytikos' via New Latin), where 'amino-' refers to amino groups and '-lytic' means 'causing dissolution or splitting'.

'amino-' entered chemical usage in the 19th century as a modifier derived from 'amine' and 'ammonia'; '-lytic' comes from Greek 'lytikos' (able to loosen or dissolve) and was adopted into scientific English (e.g., 'lytic', 'hydrolytic'); these combining forms were joined in modern scientific English to form 'amino-lytic' in 20th-century biochemical contexts.

Initially, 'amino-' denoted an amine or amino group and '-lytic' denoted splitting or decomposition; combined, the term has been used consistently in technical contexts to mean 'causing breakdown of amino groups or amino acids' with little shift from the literal component meanings.