'urease' originates from the International Scientific Vocabulary, specifically formed from 'urea' + the enzyme-forming suffix '-ase', where 'urea' referred to the chemical urea and '-ase' denotes 'enzyme'.

'urease' was coined in the late 19th to early 20th century as biochemistry adopted the suffix '-ase' (from earlier enzyme names such as 'diastase') to name enzymes, combining the substrate name 'urea' with '-ase' to denote the enzyme acting on urea.

Initially, the term referred specifically to the enzyme activity that breaks down urea; over time it has remained stable in meaning and now denotes the enzyme (or enzyme activity) that catalyzes urea hydrolysis.