'hemitonic' originates from Greek, specifically the elements 'hēmi-' and 'tonos', where 'hēmi-' meant 'half' and 'tonos' meant 'tone'.

'hemitonic' changed from New Latin/modern coinage combining Greek elements (compare New Latin 'hemitonicus') and eventually became the modern English word 'hemitonic', used particularly in 19th–20th century musicology and ethnomusicology.

Initially it meant 'having a half-tone / containing semitone intervals'; over time it has retained this technical meaning in descriptions of scales and melodic structures.