'anorthosite-like' originates from the noun 'anorthosite' (formed in scientific/Modern Latin usage), where the element 'an-' comes from Greek meaning 'not' and 'orthos' from Greek meaning 'straight' or 'correct', combined with the mineral suffix '-ite' meaning 'rock'; the English suffix '-like' means 'resembling'.

'anorthosite' entered scientific English from New/Modern Latin and Greek-derived components in the 19th–20th century to name a specific plutonic rock; the adjective 'anorthosite-like' was later formed in English by adding the productive suffix '-like' to indicate resemblance.

Initially used to name a specific rock type composed predominantly of plagioclase feldspar, the term (with '-like') has come to be used adjectivally to describe anything that resembles or has the characteristics of that rock.