'azobenzoic' is a formed technical adjective combining the prefix 'azo-' (from azo compounds, itself ultimately from French 'azote', historically used for nitrogen-containing groups) with 'benzoic' (from 'benzoic acid', named after 'benzoin').

'azobenzoic' developed in modern chemical nomenclature in the 19th–20th centuries by combining the established chemical prefix 'azo-' with the adjective 'benzoic' (from 'benzoic acid'); the components 'azo-' and 'benzoic' have separate histories (see below).

Originally the elements of the name referred separately to the azo functional group and benzoic (benzene carboxyl) origin; together they came to denote compounds or substituents in which an azo group is attached to a benzoic (or benzene-carboxyl-containing) moiety.