'andromedotoxin' originates from modern scientific coinage combining the genus name 'Andromeda' (applied to certain Ericaceae plants) and the noun 'toxin' (from Greek 'toxikon' via Modern Latin), where 'Andromeda' referred to the plant genus and 'toxikon' meant 'poison'.

'andromedotoxin' was formed in Neo-Latin/modern scientific vocabulary by compounding 'Andromeda' + 'toxin' (following 18th–19th century botanical naming and chemical terminology) and then used in English to denote toxins associated with those plants; the plural form 'andromedotoxins' follows regular English pluralization.

Initially coined to denote 'a poison associated with Andromeda (plants)', the term has retained that specific sense and is used to refer to a group of related toxic compounds (often discussed alongside or as a subset of grayanotoxins).