'backspace' originates from English, specifically the words 'back' and 'space', where 'back' comes from Old English 'bæc' meaning 'rear, backward' and 'space' ultimately comes from Latin 'spatium' (via Old French/Middle English) meaning 'room; interval'.

'backspace' developed from the two-word phrase 'back space' used in typewriting to describe moving the carriage backward by one space; in 20th-century computing the term became the single word 'backspace' referring to a key and the action of deleting the previous character.

Initially it meant 'move the carriage back by one space' (typewriter use), but over time it evolved into the current primary meaning 'a key or action that deletes the character before the cursor' in computing and text editing.