'Congo-Kinshasa' is a compound name combining 'Congo' and 'Kinshasa'. 'Congo' comes into English via Portuguese 'Congo', itself from the name of the Bakongo people and their kingdom 'Kongo' (a Bantu word used as an ethnonym and place name). 'Kinshasa' is the name of the capital city; it derives from a local placename used before colonial renaming.

'Congo' entered European languages from the kingdom and people called 'Kongo' and was used by Portuguese explorers from the 15th century; it passed into English unchanged as 'Congo'. The city now called 'Kinshasa' was named Léopoldville under Belgian colonial rule and was officially renamed Kinshasa in 1966; the compound form 'Congo-Kinshasa' arose in modern usage to specify the Democratic Republic of the Congo with its capital Kinshasa.

Originally 'Congo' referred primarily to the people and kingdom in the region; over time it became the root for several modern country names. 'Kinshasa' originally identified a local settlement and later became the name of the capital city. The compound 'Congo-Kinshasa' now specifically denotes the state commonly called the Democratic Republic of the Congo.