'floriography' originates from Latin and Greek, specifically the Latin 'flos, floris' and the Greek 'graphia', where 'flor-' meant 'flower' and 'graphia' meant 'writing'.

'floriography' was formed in English in the 19th century by combining the Latin element 'flor-' (from 'flos, floris') with the Greek-derived suffix '-graphy' (via or alongside French formations such as 'floriographie'), and came into use to denote the 'language of flowers'.

Initially it literally meant 'writing about or description of flowers', but over time it came to mean the symbolic 'language of flowers'—the system of assigning meanings to flowers and bouquets.