'cytostatic' originates from Greek and New Latin, specifically from the Greek 'kytos' meaning 'container, cell' (via the combining form 'cyto-') and the Greek root 'statikos' meaning 'causing to stand' (via New Latin elements such as 'staticus').

'cytostatic' was formed in New Latin (e.g. 'cytostaticus') by combining the prefix 'cyto-' (from Greek 'kytos') with the element '-static' (from Greek 'statikos'), and it entered modern English usage in the 20th century as 'cytostatic'.

Initially the component parts meant 'cell' and 'causing to stand/stop'; over time the compound came to mean specifically 'inhibiting cell growth' in biomedical usage.