'sulphosalt' originates from modern English, specifically formed from the combining form 'sulpho-' (from Medieval Latin 'sulphur-', meaning 'sulfur') and the word 'salt' (from Old English 'sealt', meaning 'salt or mineral deposit').

'sulphosalt' was coined in 19th-century mineralogical literature (influenced by German terms such as 'Sulphosalz' and comparable formations in other European languages) and was adopted into modern English to denote this particular group of complex sulfide minerals.

Initially the elements of the term referred more generally to salts or compounds of sulfur; over time the compound term came to denote the specific class of complex sulfide minerals now called 'sulphosalts'.