'multi-category' originates from a compound of Latin and Greek: the prefix 'multi-' ultimately from Latin 'multus' meaning 'many', and 'category' from Greek 'katēgoria' (κατηγορία), where 'katá-' meant 'according to/down' and 'agoreúein' meant 'to speak in the assembly'.

'multi-category' is a modern English compound formed by combining the Latin-derived prefix 'multi-' with the inherited English word 'category' (from Old French/Latin 'categoria' < Greek 'katēgoria'); the compound usage developed in technical and academic contexts in contemporary English (20th–21st century).

Initially the components meant 'many' and (from Greek) 'a predication or class'; the compound has come to mean specifically 'involving multiple categories', especially in technical contexts such as classification tasks in computer science and data analysis.