'hadrosaurid' originates from New Latin and ancient Greek, specifically the Greek roots 'hadros' and 'sauros', where 'hadros' meant 'thick' or 'stout' and 'sauros' meant 'lizard', with the taxonomic suffix '-id' (from New Latin '-idae') denoting a family.

'hadrosaurid' changed from the New Latin scientific name 'Hadrosauridae' and the genus name 'Hadrosaurus' (coined in the 19th century) and eventually became the modern English common-term noun 'hadrosaurid'.

Initially, the Greek roots literally meant 'thick lizard', but over time the term evolved into its modern technical meaning as 'a member of the duck-billed dinosaur family Hadrosauridae'.