'aspirator' originates from Latin, specifically the verb 'aspirāre' (from ad- + 'spīrāre'), where 'ad-' meant 'to/toward' (assimilated to 'as-') and 'spīrāre' meant 'to breathe'.

'aspirator' entered English formation from Late Latin/Medieval Latin 'aspirator' (an agent noun formed from 'aspirare') and was adopted into English with technical senses (by 17th–19th centuries) to name instruments that produce suction.

Initially it referred to someone who 'breathed upon' or metaphorically 'one who aspires'; over time the term also came to denote mechanical devices that 'draw or suck out' by creating airflow or vacuum, which is the primary modern sense.