'asclepiadic' originates from Ancient Greek, specifically the word 'Asklēpiádēs' (Ἀσκληπιάδης), where 'Asklēp-' referred to 'Asclepius' (the name of the healer god) and the suffix '-iadēs' meant 'descendant' or 'follower'.

'asclepiadic' passed into New Latin and Medieval Latin forms (e.g. 'Asclepiadicus'), then into scholarly English and prosodic terminology as 'asclepiadic' to name the metre or attributes related to Asclepiades (the poet) and the Asclepiad family; the modern English form retains the classical reference.

Initially, the stem referred specifically to persons associated with Asclepius or to followers/'descendants' (and by extension to the name Asclepiades); over time the term became specialized to describe a particular poetic metre (and secondarily botanical relations to the Asclepiadaceae), giving the modern senses.