'astrophysical' originates from Modern English, specifically formed from the combining form 'astro-' (from Greek 'astron') and 'physical' (from Greek 'phusikos' via Latin and Old French), where 'astron' meant 'star' and 'phusikos' meant 'natural' or 'relating to nature'.

'astrophysical' developed from the noun 'astrophysics' (coined in the 19th century to name the discipline combining astronomy and physics) with the adjective-forming suffix '-al'; 'astrophysics' itself was created by combining Greek-root elements related to 'star' and 'nature/physics' and entered scientific English usage in the 1800s.

Initially it referred especially to the physics of stars and stellar phenomena; over time its use broadened to cover the physical properties and processes of a wide range of celestial objects and to denote matters relating to the scientific discipline of astrophysics.