'angstrom' originates from Swedish, specifically the surname 'Ångström,' where 'ång' meant 'steam' and 'ström' meant 'stream; current.'

'angstrom' was coined in the late 19th century from the eponym 'Ångström' (after Anders Jonas Ångström); the diacritic is often dropped in English, yielding the modern English form 'angstrom'.

Initially, it meant '10^-10 of a meter used in spectroscopy', but over time it evolved into its current meaning of 'a unit of length equal to 10^-10 meter, used especially for atomic dimensions and wavelengths'.