'archicerebrum' originates from Greek and Latin: the Greek prefix 'archi-' (from 'arkhē') meant 'first, chief', and the Latin word 'cerebrum' meant 'brain'.

'archicerebrum' was formed in modern scientific/Latin usage by combining the Greek-derived prefix 'archi-' with Latin 'cerebrum' to label an evolutionarily 'primitive' or anterior brain region; it entered comparative neuroanatomical literature in the 19th–20th centuries.

Initially it conveyed the idea of the 'primary' or 'chief' brain; over time it came to be used more specifically for the anterior/primitive brain region of certain invertebrates (especially arthropods).