'nongeographic' originates from Latin and Greek, specifically the prefix 'non' from Latin 'non', where 'non' meant 'not', and the Greek word 'geographikos', where 'geo-' meant 'earth' and 'graph-' meant 'write'.

'nongeographic' changed from the hyphenated form 'non-geographic' and was formed in Modern English by combining the prefix 'non-' with 'geographic'; 'geographic' came into English via Latin 'geographicus' from Greek 'geographia'.

Initially, it meant 'not geographic', but over time it has been extended in technical and administrative contexts to mean specifically items (such as telephone numbers or services) that are not tied to a physical location.