'aphakial' originates from Greek, specifically the word 'phakos' (Greek φακός), where the prefix 'a-' meant 'without' and 'phakos' meant 'lens'.

'aphakial' developed via New Latin 'aphakia' (from Greek) into English medical usage as 'aphakic' and later formed the adjectival variant 'aphakial' by the addition of the English suffix '-al'.

Initially it meant 'without the lens', and in modern medical usage it continues to denote the absence of the crystalline lens of the eye.