'electropositive' is a modern compound formed from the combining form 'electro-' (from Greek 'ēlektron' meaning 'amber' and by extension 'electricity') and 'positive' (from Latin 'positivus', related to 'ponere' meaning 'to place').

'electro-' entered scientific English in the 18th–19th centuries from Greek via New Latin and scientific coinages; 'positive' comes from Latin 'positivus' via Old French and Middle English. The compound 'electropositive' arose in 19th-century scientific usage to describe substances that carry or tend to carry positive charge or that donate electrons.

Initially used in the context of electric charge (meaning 'positively charged by electricity'), it broadened in chemistry to denote the tendency of atoms or elements to lose electrons (current primary usage in chemistry: 'tendency to lose electrons').