'aryl-alkyl' originates from modern chemical nomenclature, combining 'aryl' (from Neo-Latin/Greek roots used in organic chemistry) and 'alkyl' (from Arabic/Neo-Latin via 'alcohol'/'alkane'), where 'aryl' meant 'an aromatic (arene-derived) radical' and 'alkyl' meant 'an alkane-derived radical.'

'aryl' developed in 19th-century organic chemistry from 'arene' and related terms and came to denote aromatic radicals; 'alkyl' was formed by chemists from 'alcohol'/'alkane' roots to denote hydrocarbon radicals. The compound term 'aryl-alkyl' arose as hyphenated descriptive nomenclature to indicate a combined substituent and eventually became standard descriptive usage in modern chemical literature.

Initially the components referred to separate radical types ('aryl' = aromatic radical; 'alkyl' = alkane-derived radical), and over time the hyphenated combination came to denote a single substituent or molecular fragment containing both types; the basic chemical sense has been retained but applied as a combined descriptor.