'zoonotic' originates from New Latin/Greek, specifically from Greek 'zoon' meaning 'animal' and 'nosos' meaning 'disease', with the Neo-Latin noun 'zoonosis' and the English adjective formed by adding the suffix '-ic'.

'zoonotic' evolved from the New Latin noun 'zoonosis' (coined in the late 19th century from Greek components) and later entered English as the adjective 'zoonotic' in the 20th century to describe diseases transmissible between animals and humans.

Initially the formation centered on 'disease of animals' or 'animal disease' (zoonosis); over time the adjective 'zoonotic' came to mean specifically 'capable of being transmitted from animals to humans' or 'relating to such diseases'.