'arabitol' originates from chemical formation combining 'arabin-' (from 'arabinose') and the suffix '-itol', where the suffix denotes a sugar alcohol.

'arabitol' was coined in modern chemical nomenclature as the reduced (alcohol) form of the sugar 'arabinose' and named by attaching the productive suffix '-itol' to the sugar stem.

Initially it designated the alcohol derivative of arabinose; over time the term has remained specific to that sugar alcohol in biochemical usage.