'keyframe' originates from English, specifically a compound of 'key' and 'frame', where 'key' meant 'important' or 'principal' and 'frame' meant 'a single image or structural unit'.

'keyframe' developed in traditional hand-drawn animation (early 20th century) to denote important drawings that defined major poses; the term was later adopted in film editing and computer animation to refer to frames or stored parameter values used for interpolation.

Initially, it meant 'an important drawn frame that defines major poses' in hand-drawn animation, but it has evolved to mean 'a frame or stored set of parameter values that defines endpoints for interpolation' in film, video, and computer animation.