'gymnospermae' originates from Ancient Greek, specifically the elements 'gymnos' and 'sperma', where 'gymnos' meant 'naked' and 'sperma' meant 'seed'.

'gymnospermae' entered scientific New Latin from the Greek roots 'gymnos' + 'sperma' and was adopted as the taxonomic New Latin form 'Gymnospermae'; this New Latin form was retained into modern botanical English as 'gymnospermae'.

Initially it literally meant 'naked seed' (the Greek root sense), and over time it became the technical term for plants whose seeds are unenclosed—i.e., the botanical group now called gymnosperms.