'neurolinguistics' originates from combining the prefix 'neuro-' (from Greek 'neûron' meaning 'nerve') and 'linguistics' (from Latin 'lingua' meaning 'tongue' via Modern Latin/French), where 'neuro-' meant 'nerve' and 'linguistics' pertains to the scientific study of language.

'neurolinguistics' is a 20th-century coinage formed by attaching 'neuro-' to 'linguistics' as neuroscience and modern linguistics became connected; 'neuro-' derives from Greek 'neûron' and 'linguistics' derives from Latin 'lingua' → Medieval/Modern French 'langue' → Modern English 'linguistics'.

Initially coined to denote the emerging interdisciplinary study of language and the nervous system; over time it has come to denote a distinct scientific field concerned with neural bases of language processing and representation.