'cladogenic' originates from New Latin/Modern scientific formation, combining Greek 'kládos' meaning 'branch' and Greek-derived combining form '-genic' (from 'genēs'/'genesis') meaning 'producing' or 'originating'.

'cladogenic' developed from the noun 'cladogenesis' (coined in scientific usage in the 20th century) — itself formed from Greek 'kládos' + Neo-Latin/Greek '-genesis' — and was adapted as the adjectival form 'cladogenic'.

Initially formed to mean 'branch-producing' in a literal morphological sense, it came to be used specifically in evolutionary biology to mean 'relating to branching speciation' or 'resulting from cladogenesis'.