'non-amine' is formed from the prefix 'non-' (from Latin 'non', meaning 'not') combined with 'amine' (from French/Neo-Latin 'amine', a chemical term derived from 'ammonia').

'amine' was coined in the 19th century as a derivative name from 'ammonia' (itself named after the Roman/Latin phrase for salts associated with the temple of Ammon); the negative prefix 'non-' (from Latin 'non') has long been used in English to form compounds; together they produced the modern descriptive term 'non-amine'.

Initially formed simply to indicate 'not an amine' (i.e., lacking the amine functional group); this descriptive meaning has remained stable in chemical usage.