'hypertrophy' originates from Greek, specifically the elements 'hyper-' and 'trophē', where 'hyper-' meant 'over' and 'trophē' meant 'nourishment'.

'hypertrophy' entered scientific/medical usage via New Latin/Modern Latin 'hypertrophia' and was adopted into English in the 19th century; the adjective/past participle form 'hypertrophied' derives from that noun/verb base.

Initially it carried the literal sense of 'over-nourishment' or 'excessive feeding'; over time it specialized to mean 'excessive growth or enlargement of an organ or tissue (often due to increased cell size)'.