'ethnographic' originates from Greek, specifically the roots 'ethnos' and 'graphein', where 'ethnos' meant 'people, nation' and 'graphein' meant 'to write'.

'ethnographic' developed in English in the late 19th century from the noun 'ethnography' (from French 'ethnographie' and Greek elements 'ethnos' + 'graphia'); the adjective was formed by adding the suffix '-ic' to 'ethnography'.

Initially it referred to matters "of writing about peoples/nations," but over time it came to mean broadly "relating to ethnography or to methods and descriptions derived from field research".