'ionochromic' originates from Greek, specifically the element 'ion' (ἰόν) and 'chroma' (χρῶμα), where 'ion' meant 'going' or 'that which moves' (later used for charged particles) and 'chroma' meant 'color'.

'ionochromic' was formed in modern scientific English by combining the prefix 'iono-' (relating to ions) with the adjective 'chromic' (from 'chroma' + '-ic') during the development of descriptive chemical terminology in the 19th–20th centuries.

Initially the roots meant 'moving' and 'color', but in modern scientific use the combined term came to mean 'displaying a color change caused by ions'.