'apoharmine' originates from Greek prefix 'apo-' (meaning 'away from' or 'derived from') combined with 'harmine', the name of an alkaloid originally identified in the plant Peganum harmala (Arabic 'harmal').

'apoharmine' was formed in modern chemical nomenclature by attaching the classical prefix 'apo-' to the established alkaloid name 'harmine' to denote a derivative or compound related to harmine; this follows standard patterns for naming modified natural products.

Originally the elements meant 'derived from harmine' in a literal morphological sense; over time the coined term came to refer specifically to particular chemical derivatives (or families of derivatives) of harmine studied in chemistry and pharmacology.