'gymnospermic' originates from New Latin/Greek compound elements 'gymno-' and 'sperma', where 'gymnos' meant 'naked' and 'sperma' meant 'seed', with the adjectival suffix '-ic' meaning 'pertaining to'.

'gymnospermic' developed from the noun 'gymnosperm' (from Neo-Latin 'gymnospermum', coined in the 19th century), formed into an adjective by adding the suffix '-ic' to mean 'relating to gymnosperms'.

Initially the roots literally referred to 'naked seed'; over time the formed adjective came to mean 'relating to plants that bear naked seeds (gymnosperms)'.