'intervocalic' originates from Latin, specifically the elements 'inter' and 'vocalis', where 'inter' meant 'between' and 'vocalis' was related to 'voice' (from 'vox').

'intervocalic' comes from Medieval/Neo-Latin 'intervocalis' (formed from Latin 'inter' + 'vocalis') and was adopted into English in the modern period as the adjective 'intervocalic'.

Initially it referred to the notion of 'between voices' or 'between vowel sounds' in Latin formation, and it has retained the specialized phonetic meaning 'situated between vowels' in modern usage.