'aortic-imaging' is a modern compound formed from the adjective 'aortic' and the noun/gerund 'imaging'. 'aortic' originates from Greek, specifically the word 'aortē' (ἀορτή), where 'aortē' meant 'the aorta (the main artery)'; the adjectival suffix '-ic' comes via Latin/Greek medical formation. 'imaging' originates from Old French, specifically the word 'image', which in turn comes from Latin 'imago', where 'imago' meant 'likeness, image', with the English gerund/nominal suffix '-ing'.

'aortic' passed into Late Latin and Medieval Latin (e.g. 'aorticus') from Greek 'aortē' and then into Middle English as 'aortic'; separately 'imago' became Old French 'image' and then Middle English 'image', from which the English gerund/nominal 'imaging' developed. These elements were combined in modern medical English to form 'aortic imaging' (also written 'aortic-imaging').

Individually, 'aortic' originally denoted the aorta and 'imaging' denoted the making or producing of images; combined in modern usage the compound specifically denotes medical visualization or diagnostic imaging of the aorta.