'areography' originates from the combining form 'areo-' (from Greek 'Ἄρης' / 'Ares', the god/name for Mars) and the suffix '-graphy' from Greek 'graphia' meaning 'writing' or 'description'.

'areography' was formed in modern scientific/technical English by analogy with words like 'geography' and 'areology' (the study of Mars), combining 'areo-' + '-graphy' to mean 'description/mapping of Mars'. It entered use in planetary science contexts in the 19th–20th centuries.

Initially coined to mean 'the description or mapping of Mars', and this meaning has remained stable in scientific usage as the term for Mars cartography.