'benzenecarbaldehyde' is a compound systematic name formed from 'benzene' + 'carbaldehyde'. 'Benzene' ultimately derives from 'benzoin' (a resin) via New Latin and Medieval Latin forms; 'carbaldehyde' is a chemical formation combining 'carb(a)-' (from 'carbon') and 'aldehyde' (from German 'Aldehyd', coined from Latin 'alcohol dehydrogenatus').

The element 'benzene' entered chemical vocabulary from Medieval/Modern Latin terms for benzoin and related resins and became 'benzene' in modern chemistry; 'aldehyde' was coined in the 19th century (German) from a phrase meaning 'dehydrogenated alcohol'; the combined systematic term 'benzenecarbaldehyde' follows modern IUPAC-style construction by joining the ring name with 'carbaldehyde'.

Originally names like 'benzoin' referred to natural resins; over time 'benzene' came to denote the specific aromatic hydrocarbon, and 'aldehyde' shifted from a descriptive Latin phrase to the accepted name for the −CHO functional group; together the modern term denotes an aldehyde substituent on a benzene ring (now used synonymously with 'benzaldehyde').