'peritrichate' originates from Greek elements: 'peri-' meaning 'around' and 'trich-' (from 'thrix, trichos') meaning 'hair', with the adjectival English suffix '-ate'.

'peritrichate' is formed from Greek roots (compare Greek 'peritrichos' meaning 'having hair all around') and was adapted into New Latin/technical English usage in biology to form the adjective 'peritrichate'.

Initially described literally as 'having hair all around' in morphological descriptions; it has kept this core sense and is now used specifically in biology to denote organisms with cilia/hairs distributed over their surface.