'ankylose' originates from New Latin, specifically the word 'ankylose', where the Greek root 'ankyl-' (from Greek 'ankylos') meant 'bent, hooked, crooked'.

'ankylose' changed from New Latin and French 'ankylose', ultimately deriving from Greek 'ankylos'; it entered modern medical English usage via New Latin/French in the 18th–19th centuries.

Initially the root meant 'bent' or 'crooked', but over time the term evolved to refer specifically to the abnormal fusion or stiffening of a joint—'to cause a joint to become immobile'.