'oliguria' originates from New Latin/medical Latin, specifically from Greek components 'oligos' and 'ouron', where 'oligos' meant 'few' and 'ouron' meant 'urine'.

'oliguria' was formed in medical Neo-Latin from the Greek roots 'oligos' + 'ouron' and entered English usage through medical Latin terminology without major intermediate changes.

Initially, it meant 'scant urine' (a literal combination of 'few' + 'urine'), and over time this core meaning has been retained as the clinical term for abnormally low urine output.