'artocarpus' originates from New Latin, specifically the word 'Artocarpus', where the Greek roots 'artos' meant 'bread' and 'karpos' meant 'fruit'.

'artocarpus' was derived from the Greek compound (ἄρτος + καρπός) 'artokárpos' (literally 'bread-fruit') and was adopted into New Latin as the botanical genus name 'Artocarpus', which became the modern English scientific name 'artocarpus'.

Initially it referred to the notion 'bread-fruit' (a descriptive compound of Greek roots), and over time it became the formal name for the genus of trees producing such fruits, keeping the original sense related to those fruits.