'bluestem' originates from Modern English, a compound of 'blue' + 'stem', where 'blue' meant the color blue and 'stem' meant stalk or main stalk of a plant.

'bluestem' developed in 19th-century American English as a common name for grasses with noticeably bluish stems (for example, the names 'big bluestem' and 'little bluestem' were coined for specific prairie grasses).

Initially it referred generally to grasses with bluish-colored stems; over time it became the established common name for specific prairie grass species and, by extension, for prairies dominated by those species.