'azelate' originates from modern chemical name formation, specifically the word 'azelaic' combined with the suffix '-ate', where '-ate' meant 'salt or ester' (a chemical suffix indicating a salt or ester of an acid).

'azelate' developed from the acid name 'azelaic' (coined in 19th-century chemical literature) with the productive suffix '-ate' used to form names of salts and esters; thus the term arose through standard chemical nomenclature.

Initially the related term referred to substances associated with 'azelaic acid'; over time 'azelate' has come to denote specifically the salt or ester derived from that acid.