'neurodiverse' is formed from the combining form 'neuro-' (from Greek 'neûron', meaning 'nerve') and 'diverse' (from Latin 'diversus', meaning 'turned different'), built on the coinage 'neurodiversity'.

'neurodiverse' developed after the late-20th-century coinage 'neurodiversity' (coined in the 1990s to describe natural variations in human neurology). The adjective 'neurodiverse' arose by applying the adjective-forming pattern to that noun to describe people, groups, or practices characterized by neurodiversity.

Initially tied to the activist and academic term 'neurodiversity' (emphasizing variation rather than deficit), 'neurodiverse' has come to be used both descriptively (to label individuals or groups) and prescriptively (to describe policies or practices that support neurological differences).