'auricyanide' is formed from Latin 'aurum' (meaning 'gold') combined with 'cyanide', from Greek 'kyanos' (meaning 'dark blue'), plus the chemical suffix '-ide'.

'aurum' + 'cyanide' became the compound-forming term 'auricyanide' in modern chemical nomenclature, modeled on established names like 'ferricyanide' and 'ferrocyanide'.

Initially a descriptive compound name combining 'gold' and 'cyanide', the term has been used broadly for gold–cyanide compounds and in older literature for specific salts; its modern usage is generally descriptive rather than a single defined species.