'anthropogeographic' originates from Greek, specifically the combining forms 'anthrōpos' and 'gē' plus the adjective-forming element from 'graphikos', where 'anthrōpos' meant 'human', 'gē' meant 'earth', and 'graphikos' meant 'relating to writing/description'.

'anthropogeographic' was formed in modern academic English by combining the Greek-derived prefix 'anthropo-' (from 'anthrōpos') with the existing adjective 'geographic' (from Greek 'gē' + 'graphikos'); the compound usage became more common in 19th–20th century human geography and related disciplines.

Initially it carried the sense of 'describing humans in relation to the earth', and it has come to be used more specifically for study of human distribution, activities, and their spatial relationships in geographic contexts.