The Chinese 经济 comes from the phrase 经世济俗 (order the world to save the people), from the treatise Baopuzi by the Daoist philosopher Ge Hong (葛洪) from the Jin Dynasty. It originally referred to governance, but (under Japanese influence) came to be used for the Western concept of economy.

The Western "economy" comes from Greek, "household management," from oikos (household) and nomos (management).