'arithmograph' originates from Greek, specifically from 'arithmos' meaning 'number' and 'graphein' meaning 'to write', combined to denote a device that 'writes' or records numbers.

'arithmograph' is a compound formed in modern English from Greek elements (arithmo- + -graph) in the 19th–20th centuries, modeled on similar formations such as 'arithmometer' and other technical compounds combining Greek roots; it entered use to name mechanical calculating/recording instruments.

Initially formed to mean 'an instrument that writes or records numbers', its usage came to refer more generally to devices for performing arithmetic (adding/printing totals), and in modern contexts is often synonymous with 'adding machine' or 'calculating machine'.