'aortic' originates from New Latin, specifically the word 'aorticus', where 'aorta' came from Greek 'aortē' meaning 'a lifting' (from the verb 'aeire/airo' meaning 'to lift') and the suffix '-icus' meant 'pertaining to'.

'aortic' changed from the Late/Medieval Latin word 'aorticus' used in anatomical and medical Latin and eventually became the modern English adjective 'aortic' through scientific usage in the 17th–19th centuries.

Initially it referred to things 'pertaining to the aorta' (the term aorta itself derived from a Greek root meaning 'to lift'), and over time it has retained the medical meaning 'relating to the aorta' in modern usage.