'meta-aminophenol' is a compound name formed from the combining form 'meta-' (from Greek 'metá' meaning 'after, beyond, or between'), 'amino' (from French 'amine', ultimately linked to 'ammonia'), and 'phenol' (from German 'Phenol', itself from Greek roots used in chemical naming).

'phenol' entered chemical nomenclature in the 19th century via German 'Phenol'; 'amine' was coined in the mid-19th century for derivatives of ammonia. The positional prefix 'meta-' was adopted in aromatic chemistry to indicate the 3-position on a benzene ring; the systematic IUPAC name '3-aminophenol' and the traditional 'm-aminophenol'/'meta-aminophenol' refer to the same substance.

The individual roots originally denoted linguistic/chemical roots (e.g., 'amine' for ammonia-derived groups, 'phenol' for a specific aromatic alcohol). Over time the combined term came to denote specifically the compound with an amino group at the meta (3) position on phenol; modern usage identifies the exact structural isomer rather than just descriptive fragments.