中文译名“形而上学”取自《易经•系辞上传》“形而上者谓之道，形而下者谓之器”一语，为日本人井上哲次郎（明治时代）由metaphysic翻译而来。
The Chinese translation of Metaphysics originates from “the metaphysical is the Tao, and the physical is vessel” in the Book of Changes, Texts of Hexagrams, and was translated from metaphysic by Japanese Kajiro Inoue (Meiji era).