'auricle' originates from Latin, specifically the word 'auricula', where 'auris' meant 'ear' and the diminutive suffix '-cula' meant 'little'.

'auricula' passed into Old French and Middle English (in forms such as 'oricle' and 'ourecle') and eventually became the modern English 'auricle'; the adjectival form 'auricled' was formed from this noun to mean 'having auricles'.

Initially, it meant 'little ear' (a small ear-like structure); over time it came to denote any ear-shaped appendage, and 'auricled' now means 'having such ear-shaped appendages'.