'auxology' originates from Modern/Neo-Latin, specifically the word 'auxologia', where the Greek root 'aux-' (from 'auxein') meant 'to increase' and the Greek suffix '-logy' (from 'logia') meant 'study'.

'auxology' changed from the New Latin word 'auxologia', formed from Greek 'auxein' + 'logia', and eventually entered English as 'auxology' in the 19th–20th centuries.

Initially it referred more broadly to the study of growth in organisms; over time it has come to be used primarily for the scientific study of human growth and development.