'sterile' originates from Latin, specifically the word 'sterilis', where 'ster-' meant 'barren' and '-ilis' was an adjectival suffix.

'sterile' changed from the Latin word 'sterilis' through Medieval Latin and Old French into Middle English forms such as 'steril' and eventually became the modern English word 'sterile'.

Initially, it meant 'barren' or 'unfruitful'; over time it retained that sense in reproductive contexts and extended to medical/aseptic meanings and figurative senses of 'unproductive' or 'lifeless'.