'apheliotropic' originates from Ancient Greek elements, specifically from 'apo-' and 'hēlios' combined with 'tropos', where 'apo-' meant 'away from', 'hēlios' meant 'sun', and 'tropos' meant 'turn'.

'apheliotropic' was formed via Neo-Latin/Scientific coinage (e.g. Latinized forms such as 'apheliotropicus' and the related noun 'apheliotropism') in the 19th/20th-century scientific literature and was adopted into modern English in technical contexts.

Initially it meant 'turning away from the sun', and this specific sense has been preserved in modern usage for biological and botanical descriptions.