'non-autistic' originates from English, formed by the prefix 'non-' (from Latin 'non') meaning 'not', combined with 'autistic' (from 'autism', ultimately from Greek 'autos' meaning 'self').

'autistic' derived from the noun 'autism', which came into medical/psychological use in the early 20th century via German/French forms such as 'Autismus' and 'autisme'; the adjective 'autistic' entered English and later combined with the productive English prefix 'non-' to form 'non-autistic'.

The root 'autos' originally meant 'self' in Greek; 'autism' was originally used (in early psychiatric contexts) to describe withdrawal into the self, and over time the term evolved into the modern clinical sense referring to a neurodevelopmental profile; 'non-autistic' consequently came to mean simply 'not autistic' (i.e., not showing those clinical characteristics).