'paleomagnetic' originates from Greek, specifically the prefix 'palaiós' meaning 'ancient' combined with 'magnetic' (from Greek 'magnētis' / Latin 'magneticus'), where 'palaiós' meant 'old' and 'magnētis' referred to 'magnet'.

'paleomagnetic' was formed in modern scientific English by combining the prefix 'paleo-' (from Greek) with the adjective 'magnetic'; it arose alongside the noun 'paleomagnetism' in 20th-century geology and geophysics.

Initially it literally meant 'ancient magnetism'; over time it evolved into the technical sense 'relating to the study or records of the Earth's past magnetic field preserved in geological materials.'