'hotspot' originates from Modern English, specifically the compound of the words 'hot' and 'spot', where 'hot' (Old English 'hāt') meant 'having a high temperature' and 'spot' (Old English 'spot') meant 'a small area or stain'.

'hotspot' developed from the two-word phrase 'hot spot' used in English from the late 19th to early 20th century to denote a place of intense activity; over the 20th century the phrase began to be used in specialized senses (for example geological usage in the 1960s) and later became compounded as 'hotspot' especially in technological contexts (late 1990s onward).

Initially, the parts meant 'a physically hot place' or 'a marked spot'; over time the compound came to mean 'a place of concentrated activity or intensity' and then acquired specialized senses such as a geological volcanic area and a public wireless Internet access point.