'arteriocapillary' originates from combining two medical elements: the prefix 'arterio-' (from Greek/Latin referring to 'artery') and 'capillary' (from Latin 'capillaris', meaning 'hair-like').

'arteriocapillary' was formed in modern medical English by joining the combining form 'arterio-' (used since classical/medieval anatomy terms) with the Latin-derived adjective 'capillary'; the compound became used in 19th–20th century medical literature to name structures or phenomena involving both arterioles and capillaries.

Initially the roots referred separately to 'artery' and 'hair-like (capillary)' structures; over time the compound came to denote specifically the interface or combined functional unit of arterioles and capillaries in microcirculation.