'ataxophemia' originates from Greek roots via Neo-Latin/medical coinage: from Greek 'a-' (not, without), 'taxis' (order, coordination) combined with 'pheme' (speech).

'ataxophemia' is a modern medical formation combining Greek elements (ataxia + pheme) into Neo-Latin/medical terminology; it entered English as a technical term in neurology to describe disordered, uncoordinated speech.

Initially formed to convey the idea of 'absence or disorder of ordered speech,' it has come to denote a specific clinical pattern of ataxic (cerebellar) dysarthria characterized by irregular articulation and prosody.