'vasoplegic' originates from New Latin/medical formation, combining the prefix 'vaso-' (from Latin 'vas', meaning 'vessel') and the element '-plegic' from Greek 'plēgē' meaning 'stroke' or 'paralysis'.

'vasoplegic' derived from the noun 'vasoplegia' (a 20th-century medical coinage) formed from 'vaso-' + Greek-derived '-plegia' (via Neo-Latin); the components trace back to Latin 'vas' ('vessel') and Greek 'plēgē' ('blow, stroke, paralysis').

Initially the parts literally conveyed 'vessel paralysis' (paralysis or loss of vascular tone); over time the term has come to denote the clinical syndrome of profound vasodilation and low systemic vascular resistance rather than a true 'paralysis'.