'arawakian' originates from the ethnonym 'Arawak', borrowed into European languages (notably Spanish and Portuguese) from the name used for certain indigenous groups of northern South America and the Caribbean.

'arawakian' developed as an English adjectival/derivative form from the noun 'Arawak' (itself attested in early colonial Spanish as forms like 'Aruac' or 'Arawac'), with the adjectival suffix -ian (and alternatively -an) producing 'Arawakian'/'Arawakan'.

Initially the root referred specifically to a particular indigenous people ('Arawak'); over time the term broadened to denote the wider language family and anything relating to those peoples or their languages ('Arawakian' meaning 'of or relating to the Arawak').