'osmotic' originates from New Latin 'osmoticus', ultimately from Greek 'osmōtikos', where Greek 'osmē' (or 'osme') meant 'a push, impulse, or smell' (sense of a thrust or driving force).

'osmotic' changed from Greek 'osmōtikos' to Late/Modern Latin 'osmoticus' and entered English in the mid-19th century as the scientific adjective 'osmotic' used in physiology and chemistry.

Initially connected with the idea of a 'push' or 'impulse', the term came to be used specifically for the physical process of osmosis and for things relating to that process (movement of solvent through a semipermeable membrane).