The word 'veldt' is an English adoption of the Afrikaans word 'veld', which itself descends from the Dutch word 'veld', meaning "field". The Dutch term has its origins in the Proto-Germanic 'felthuz', which referred to a plain or open land. This Proto-Germanic root is cognate with the Old English 'feld', the direct ancestor of the modern English word "field". Therefore, 'veldt' and "field" are linguistic cousins, both preserving the ancient concept of a flat, open landscape, though 'veldt' specifically came to denote the distinctive grassy plateaus of southern Africa through Dutch and Afrikaans colonial usage.

This word is a loanword from Afrikaans, where it is a variant of 'veld'. It is not productively segmented using English morphemes.