'astigmoscope' originates from Neo-Latin/Modern Latin, specifically built from Greek elements: 'a-' (privative, 'not'), 'stigma' (point, mark) and 'skopein' (to look or examine).

'astigmoscope' was formed in the 19th century by analogy with other scientific instrument names (e.g. '-scope') derived via Neo-Latin/Greek roots (compare Neo-Latin formations such as 'astigmatoscope'), and eventually became the English technical term 'astigmoscope'.

Initially coined from roots meaning 'to look at the lack of a point,' it came to denote specifically an instrument for detecting or measuring astigmatism.