'yopo' originates from an indigenous South American or Caribbean language (recorded in Spanish as 'yopo'); it entered English via Spanish exposure to indigenous usage.

'yopo' was adopted into Spanish as 'yopo' from a native word used by Caribbean or Amazonian peoples, and the Spanish term was later borrowed into English with the same form 'yopo'.

Initially, the term referred to the plant and the preparations made from it in indigenous contexts; in English it has kept this sense, referring to both the tree and the psychoactive snuff.