'astrophel' originates from modern English coinage modeled on Greek elements 'astro-' and '-phil(os)', where 'astro-' meant 'star' and '-phil(os)' meant 'lover'.

'astrophel' was coined as the name of the poetic speaker by Sir Philip Sidney in the late 16th century for his sonnet sequence 'Astrophel and Stella'; it was formed directly from Greek-derived elements rather than inherited through Old English or Latin forms.

Initially it referred specifically to Sidney's fictional poet-lover (the protagonist of the sonnet sequence), but over time it has occasionally been used more generally, in rare or poetic contexts, to mean 'lover of the stars' or as a literary reference to Sidney's character.