'p-anisidine' originates from modern chemical nomenclature; 'anisidine' derives from the root 'anis-' (from Latin 'anisum', meaning 'anise') combined with the suffix '-idine', and the prefix 'p-' is an abbreviation of 'para-' indicating the 1,4 position on a benzene ring.

'anisidine' developed as a name in 19th-century organic chemistry from 'anisole' (methoxybenzene) and 'aniline' (phenylamine), producing the term 'anisidine' for methoxy-substituted anilines; the positional prefix 'para-' (abbreviated 'p-') was later applied to specify the 4-substituted isomer, yielding 'p-anisidine'.

Initially the element 'anis-' referred broadly to substances related to anise (scent/derived compounds); over time the name came to denote the specific compound now called 'p-anisidine' (4-methoxyaniline), used in analytical and synthetic chemistry.