'cyan-green' is a compound of 'cyan' and 'green'. 'cyan' originates from Modern French/Neo-Latin 'cyan' (from Greek 'kyanos'), where 'kyanos' meant 'blue-dark/blue'. 'green' originates from Old English 'grēne', from Proto-Germanic '*grōni-' meaning 'growing' or 'verdant'.

'cyan' was borrowed into English in the 19th century (linked to colour names used in printing and dyes) from Neo-Latin/French based on Greek 'kyanos'. 'green' developed from Old English 'grēne' and has existed in Germanic languages for many centuries; the compound 'cyan-green' is a more recent English formation used to describe an intermediate hue between the two colours.

Originally 'kyanos' referred to a dark blue in Greek, and 'green' was associated with growing or fresh vegetation; over time 'cyan' came to denote a greenish-blue hue in modern colour systems, and the compound 'cyan-green' now specifically denotes a bluish-green colour between cyan and green.