'trihydroxyl' originates from Greek and Neo-Latin elements; specifically the prefix 'tri-' originates from Greek 'treis' where 'tri-' meant 'three', and 'hydroxyl' originates via Neo-Latin and French from Greek elements 'hydro-' meaning 'water' and 'oxys' meaning 'sharp' combined with the chemical suffix '-yl'.

'trihydroxyl' was formed in modern chemical nomenclature by combining the numeric prefix 'tri-' with the 19th-century chemical term 'hydroxyl'; the compound form came into English usage as systematic naming in organic chemistry developed.

Initially, 'hydroxyl' referred to the radical or functional group related to water and oxygen; over time, compounds named with the prefix 'tri-' plus 'hydroxyl' came to specifically denote the presence of three hydroxyl groups.