'syringohydromyelia' originates from a modern medical compound formed from Greek elements: the prefix 'syringo-' from 'syrinx' meaning 'tube or pipe' (used for a cavity), 'hydro-' from 'hydor' meaning 'water', and 'myelia' from 'myelos' meaning 'marrow' or 'spinal cord'.

'syringohydromyelia' developed in late 19th to early 20th century medical literature by combining the terms 'syringomyelia' and 'hydromyelia' to denote cases in which both a syrinx and central canal dilatation are present; it is a descriptive synthesis rather than a single inherited word from older English.

Initially, the component elements referred separately to a tubular cavity ('syrinx') and to fluid dilation of the central canal ('hydromyelia'); over time the combined term 'syringohydromyelia' has come to denote the specific clinical coexistence of both phenomena in the spinal cord.