'backscraper' originates from Modern English, formed by combining 'back' (Old English 'bæc') and 'scraper', the agent noun from 'scrape' (Old English 'scrapan'), where the root meant 'to scrape or scratch'.

'backscraper' is a compound created in Modern English by joining 'back' + 'scraper'. 'Scrape' comes from Old English 'scrapan' (from Proto-Germanic *skrap-), and the agent suffix '-er' produced 'scraper'; the compound usage to denote a tool appears in later English (18th–19th century usage for similar compounds).

Initially it referred straightforwardly to a physical implement for scraping the back; over time it has also been used figuratively to describe a flattering or servile person in some older or rhetorical contexts.