'unigenic' originates from Latin and Greek, specifically from the Latin word 'unus' (giving the prefix 'uni-') and the Greek root 'gen-'/'genic' (from Greek 'gennan'/'genesis'), where 'uni-' meant 'one' and '-genic' meant 'producing' or 'originating from'.

'unigenic' was formed in modern scientific English (late 19th to 20th century) by combining the Latin-derived prefix 'uni-' with the Greek-derived suffix '-genic' to describe phenomena produced or determined by a single origin (in biology, a single gene).

Initially formed to mean 'produced by a single origin,' the term has become specialized in genetics to mean 'caused by or attributable to a single gene.'