'floriculturist' originates from modern English, specifically the word 'floriculture' with the agentive suffix '-ist'; 'floriculture' itself comes from French 'floriculture' and ultimately from Latin 'flos, floris' where 'flos/floris' meant 'flower' and from Latin 'cultura' (from 'colere') meaning 'cultivation'.

'floriculturist' was formed in English by combining 'floriculture' (a 19th-century formation via French) with the suffix '-ist' (from Latin/Greek agentive endings), producing a term meaning 'one who practices floriculture'.

Initially the root referred to the cultivation of flowers ('floriculture'); the derived form 'floriculturist' came to mean specifically a person who cultivates, breeds, or studies flowers professionally or scientifically.