'catabolic' originates from Greek, specifically the word 'katabole' (and the verb element 'kataballein'), where 'kata-' meant 'down' and 'ballein' meant 'to throw'.

'catabolic' developed from the noun 'catabolism', a late 19th-century scientific formation (via New Latin/modern scientific usage from Greek roots), and eventually became used as the modern English adjective 'catabolic'.

Initially it was tied to the literal sense of 'a throwing down' or 'downward action', but over time it evolved into the biochemical sense of 'breaking down complex molecules to release energy'.