'm-aminophenol' is formed from the chemical-nomenclature prefix 'm-' (short for 'meta-') and the compound name 'aminophenol'. 'meta' originates from Greek 'meta' where 'meta' meant 'between/after'; 'amino' comes from 'amine' (Modern Latin/French/German chemical usage ultimately related to 'ammonia'); 'phenol' was coined from 'phenyl' + the alcohol suffix '-ol', with 'phenyl' ultimately traceable to Greek roots.

'aminophenol' arose in modern chemical nomenclature in the 19th century by combining 'amino' (the -NH2 group name) and 'phenol' (the hydroxyl-substituted benzene core). The specific isomer designation 'm-' (meta-) was adopted from classical Greek positional prefixes used in aromatic chemistry to indicate the 1,3-substitution pattern, producing the modern term 'm-aminophenol'.

Initially, the component terms named general molecular features ('amino' = containing an -NH2 group; 'phenol' = a hydroxyl-substituted benzene), and over time the combined term came to denote the specific structural isomer with those groups in the meta positions: the current chemical meaning of 'm-aminophenol'.