'apogeotropic' originates from Greek, specifically from the elements 'apo-' and 'geō' combined with the suffix '-tropikos', where 'apo-' meant 'away from', 'geō' meant 'earth', and 'trepein' (root of '-trop-') meant 'to turn'.

'apogeotropic' entered scientific/medical usage via New Latin/Modern Latin formations (e.g. 'apogeotropicus') from Greek elements and was adopted into English in technical contexts to mean 'turning away from the earth'.

Initially formed to describe a directional tendency 'away from the earth', the term retained this core directional meaning and became specialized in medicine to describe certain patterns of nystagmus and positional responses.