'plurisporangiate' originates from Latin and New Latin elements: 'pluri-' from Latin 'pluri-' meaning 'many', combined with 'sporangium' (from Modern Latin/New Latin), where 'sporangium' comes from Greek 'spora' (σπορά) meaning 'seed, spore' and 'angeion' (ἀγγεῖον) meaning 'vessel'.

'plurisporangiate' was formed in modern botanical/New Latin usage by combining the prefix 'pluri-' and the noun 'sporangium' to describe plants or structures that bear many sporangia; the term appears in technical botanical literature from the 19th–20th centuries onward.

Initially used in technical descriptions to denote 'bearing several sporangia', the meaning has remained essentially the same and is still used in specialized botanical and paleobotanical contexts.