'barbiturate' originates from New Latin (barbituratus), named after 'barbituric acid' coined in the 19th century to describe derivatives of that acid.

'barbiturate' developed from the 19th-century chemical name 'barbituric' (as in 'barbituric acid'); the modern English form was created by adding the suffix '-ate' to denote a salt or derivative and then applied to the class of drugs.

Initially, the word referred specifically to chemical salts or derivatives of barbituric acid; over time it came to mean the drugs (sedatives/hypnotics/anticonvulsants) derived from those chemicals.