'aphidicide' originates from Modern English, formed by combining 'aphid' (from New Latin/Greek root for the insect) and the suffix '-cide', which ultimately comes from Latin 'caedere', where 'caedere' meant 'to kill'.

'aphidicide' was coined by combining 'aphid' + '-cide' (a productive English formation in the 19th–20th centuries) and developed into the modern English term 'aphidicide' used for agents that kill aphids.

Initially, it meant 'a substance that kills aphids', and this meaning has largely remained the same in modern usage.