'apomorphine' originates from Greek elements via New Latin: the prefix 'apo-' (Greek ἀπό) meaning 'away from' or 'derived from', combined with 'morphine' (from Greek 'morphē' meaning 'form' — the name of the opium alkaloid).

'apomorphine' was coined in the 19th century as a chemical name indicating a derivative of 'morphine' (the opium alkaloid); the term entered scientific and medical English to denote this specific derivative and its pharmacological uses.

Initially the term referred broadly to compounds produced by chemical alteration of morphine (literally 'away from morphine'); over time it came to denote the specific alkaloid now known as apomorphine and its clinical uses, particularly as a dopamine agonist.