The word 'stamen' was borrowed directly from Latin in the 17th century, where it meant "warp in an upright loom, thread." This Latin term is derived from the Proto-Indo-European root steh₂- ("to stand"), which also gives us English words like 'stand' and 'static.' The botanical application arose from the observation of the thread-like filaments standing upright within the flower. Thus, the etymological logic connects the concept of a standing thread to the slender, upright structure of the plant's male reproductive organ.

The word is a simplex loanword from Latin. It cannot be meaningfully segmented into productive morphemes in modern English spelling.