'balete' originates from Tagalog, specifically the word 'balete', where the root referred to a type of fig tree or banyan.

'balete' was recorded in Spanish colonial accounts of the Philippines as 'balete' and entered English usage (in descriptions of Philippine flora and folklore) directly from Philippine languages.

Initially it meant 'a species of tree' (a fig/banyan), but over time it also developed the folkloric meaning 'a tree inhabited by spirits' in popular usage.