'arbutin' originates from New Latin, specifically from the plant name 'Arbutus' (or related Latin 'arbutum'), where 'Arbutus' referred to the strawberry tree or related plants.

'arbutin' was formed in modern scientific Latin/English by combining the plant name 'Arbutus' (or its Latinized forms) with the chemical suffix '-in' to name the glycoside isolated from those plants, eventually becoming the English chemical name 'arbutin'.

Initially the element of the name referred to the source plant ('Arbutus' / related species); over time the term came to denote the specific chemical compound (the hydroquinone glycoside) derived from those plants and its uses.