'aquarid' originates from New Latin, specifically the word 'Aquarius' together with the suffix '-id' (from Greek '-ides'), where 'Aquarius' meant 'water-bearer' and '-id' meant 'belonging to' or 'descendant of'.

'aquarid' changed from the New Latin use linking the constellation name 'Aquarius' and the meteor-shower name 'Aquarides', and eventually became the modern English word 'aquarid' by combining the stem 'Aquar-' with the English suffix '-id'.

Initially, it meant 'pertaining to Aquarius' (i.e., 'of the constellation Aquarius'), but over time it evolved into its current meaning of 'a meteor belonging to the Aquariids meteor shower'.