'batsman' originates from English, specifically the compound of 'bat' + 'man', where 'bat' meant 'a club or stick used to strike a ball' and 'man' meant 'person'.

'batsman' developed in Early Modern English as a straightforward compound of 'bat' and 'man' to denote a person who uses a bat; it became established in the sporting sense (cricket) by the 18th–19th centuries and remains the modern English term 'batsman'.

Initially, it meant 'a man who has or uses a bat'; over time it specialized to mean 'a player who bats in cricket' and now commonly denotes that sporting role.