'grayanotoxin' is composed of the name 'Graya' (a plant name ultimately honoring the botanist Asa Gray) combined with the Greek-derived element 'toxicon' meaning 'poison', forming the scientific name for the toxin.

The term was formed in modern scientific nomenclature by combining the plant-name element 'Graya' (or related forms used for Ericaceae plants) with 'toxin' (from Greek 'toxikon'), yielding 'grayanotoxin' to denote poisons isolated from those plants.

Initially used specifically for toxic compounds isolated from plants labeled with the element 'Graya', the term has come to denote a group of related diterpene neurotoxins found across several genera in the Ericaceae family.