'auslaute' originates from German, specifically the word 'Auslaut', where 'aus-' meant 'out' and 'Laut' meant 'sound'.

'Auslaut' comes from Middle High German (e.g. 'ûz-lûte') and Old High German ('ūz-luot'), and the term was adopted into linguistic terminology in modern usage as 'auslaut' (plural 'auslaute').

Initially it meant 'out-sound' and over time has remained close to that sense, now referring specifically to word-final phonemes or sounds.