'ammonobasic' originates from the combination of 'ammonia' and 'basic', where 'ammonia' refers to the compound NH₃ and 'basic' refers to a substance with a pH greater than 7.

'ammonia' comes from the Latin word 'ammoniacus', which was derived from the Greek 'ammōniakos', referring to the salt of Ammon. 'Basic' comes from the Greek 'basis', meaning 'foundation'.

Initially, it referred to substances containing ammonia, and this meaning has largely remained the same in modern usage.