'enstatite' originates from New Latin, ultimately from Greek 'enstatēs', where the prefix 'en-' meant 'in' and 'statēs' meant 'standing (one who stands)'.

'enstatite' passed into German as 'Enstatit' and was adopted into English as 'enstatite' (used in mineralogy from the 19th century).

Initially it referred specifically to this silicate mineral, and over time it has remained a technical mineral name with largely the same meaning.