'astatine' originates from Greek, specifically the word 'astatos', where the prefix/root 'a-' meant 'not' and 'statos' meant 'stable' (together meaning 'unstable'), combined with the chemical suffix '-ine' used for halogens.

'astatine' was coined in English in 1940 by its discoverers from the Greek 'astatos' plus the suffix '-ine' and became the modern English name for element 85.

Initially, the Greek root referred to 'unstable'; the modern English word 'astatine' has come to mean specifically the unstable chemical element with atomic number 85.