The word grisaille first came to light in the French language in the 17th century, in 1625, in a letter to Rubens from the Provencal scholar Peiresc. Its appearance there was followed in 1649 by the creation of the verb grisailler, meaning “to paint in grisaille.” This verb is hardly used today, other than in intransitive form to indicate that an object takes on a gray tinge. When late 19th-century writers spoke of the grisaille of a day or the weather, they still had in mind the impression made by a monochromatic painting.

The word camaieu, which is of dubious etymology though may be Arab in origin, preceded the word cameo. The former first appeared in the 13th century as camaheu. The latter was not seen until 1752 and has its roots in the Italian language. The term cameo can sometimes describe a grisaille painting meant to imitate the stone of the same name.

The primary meaning of clair-obscur is the absence of a mixture of color, and the word chiaroscuro was long used in Italian as a synonym for monocromo. Adopted in French at the end of the 17th century, the term clair-obscur competed with the word grisaille for many years.