'bacterioscopic' originates from Greek and Neo-Latin roots, specifically the Greek word 'bakterion' (via New Latin 'bacterium') and the Greek verb 'skopein', where 'bakterion' meant 'small rod (a little stick)' and 'skopein' meant 'to look or examine'.

'bacterioscopic' changed from Neo-Latin/technical formations combining the prefix 'bacterio-' (from New Latin 'bacterium') and the suffix '-scopic' (from Greek 'skopein' via Latin/Greek adjectival forms) and eventually became the modern English adjective 'bacterioscopic'.

Initially, components referred specifically to 'small rod' (the form of some bacteria) and 'to look', and over time the combined formation came to mean 'pertaining to the microscopic examination of bacteria'.