'hypersexuality' originates from Modern English, formed by the combining prefix 'hyper-' (from Greek 'ὑπέρ') meaning 'over, beyond' and the noun 'sexuality' (from Latin/Modern English roots 'sexus'/'sexualis' + suffix '-ity').

'hypersexuality' developed from the adjective 'hypersexual' (formed in 20th-century clinical/medical English) with the nominalizing suffix '-ity' to create the noun 'hypersexuality'. 'Sexuality' itself comes from Latin 'sexus' (meaning 'sex') and Late Latin/Medieval Latin 'sexualis', entering English via French/Latin-derived forms.

Initially coined in medical and psychiatric contexts to describe clinically excessive sexual behavior, the term has retained that clinical meaning but has also broadened in informal use to describe any unusually high sexual drive.