'methoxyaniline' originates from Modern English, specifically the words 'methoxy' and 'aniline', where 'methoxy' is built from 'methyl' (ultimately from Greek 'methy' meaning 'wine' in the coinage history of 'methyl') plus 'oxy' (from Greek 'oxys' used in chemistry to denote oxygen-containing groups), and 'aniline' derives from Arabic 'anil' (indigo) via Portuguese/Spanish 'anil' and French 'aniline'.

'methoxyaniline' formed by compounding the prefix 'methoxy' (from 'methyl' + 'oxy') with 'aniline' (which passed from Arabic 'anil' → Portuguese/Spanish 'anil' → French 'aniline'), and so produced the modern English chemical name 'methoxyaniline'.

Initially, 'aniline' referred to a substance obtained from indigo; over time it came to denote the chemical phenylamine (and its derivatives). 'Methoxy' came to denote the –OCH3 substituent, so 'methoxyaniline' now specifically denotes an aniline bearing a methoxy group.