'anisocarpous' originates from Greek, specifically the elements 'anisos' and 'karpos', where 'anisos' meant 'unequal' and 'karpos' meant 'fruit'.

'anisocarpous' was formed in Neo-Latin/botanical Latin from Greek roots ('anisos' + 'karpos') and entered English scientific usage in the 19th century as a technical botanical adjective.

Initially it described the condition of 'unequal fruit' in classical roots and has retained the same technical sense in modern botanical usage: 'having unequal fruits or carpels'.