'aphemic' originates from New Latin 'aphemia', ultimately from Greek, specifically the element 'a-' + 'phēmē', where 'a-' meant 'not' and 'phēmē' meant 'speech'.

'aphemic' developed in English as an adjective from medical/Neo-Latin 'aphemia' (used to denote loss of speech) in 19th-century medical literature, itself derived from Greek 'phēmē' (speech).

Initially, the related term referred specifically to a clinical 'loss of speech' (aphemia); over time the adjective 'aphemic' has come to mean 'relating to or characterized by such a loss' or more generally 'without speech'.