'enantiomeric' originates from Greek, specifically the words 'enantios' and 'meros', where 'enantios' meant 'opposite' and 'meros' meant 'part', combined with the adjectival suffix '-ic' in modern scientific English.

'enantiomeric' developed from the noun 'enantiomer', a term formed in 19th-century chemical literature (influenced by German and international scientific usage) from the Greek roots 'enantios' + 'meros'; the adjective was created by adding '-ic' to describe properties or relations of enantiomers.

Initially it named the mirror-image relationship between molecular forms; over time it has come to describe related properties (e.g., enantiomeric purity, enantiomeric excess) and behaviors of such molecules in chemical and pharmaceutical contexts.