'axmaker' originates from English, specifically as a compound of 'ax' and 'maker', where 'ax' referred to the cutting tool and 'maker' comes from 'make' meaning 'to produce or form'.

'ax' comes from Old English 'æx' (from Proto-Germanic roots such as '*akuz'), and 'maker' comes from Old English 'macian' (to make) via Middle English 'maken'/'maker', which produced the modern element 'maker'; these elements combined in Modern English to form the occupational compound 'axmaker'.

Initially the elements meant 'cutting tool' (ax) and 'one who makes' (maker); over time the compound retained the straightforward occupational meaning 'a person who makes axes'.