'para-anisyl-substituted' is a compound formed from the prefixes and roots 'para-', 'anisyl', and the past-participle adjective 'substituted'. 'para-' originates from Greek 'para' meaning 'beside' (used in aromatic nomenclature to denote the 4-position), 'anisyl' comes from 'anisyl' (the radical derived from 'anisole'), and 'substituted' derives from Latin 'substituere' meaning 'to put in place of'.

'substituted' entered English via Latin 'substituere' through Old French and Middle English; 'anisyl' is formed in modern chemical nomenclature from 'anisole' (from French/Latin 'anisum' ← Greek 'anison' meaning 'anise'), and the prefix 'para-' was adopted in organic chemistry in the 19th century to label relative positions on aromatic rings. Combined as a hyphenated compound, they produced the modern descriptive term 'para-anisyl-substituted'.

Each component originally had an independent meaning ('para-' = beside/at 4-position, 'anisyl' = group derived from anisole/anise, 'substituted' = placed instead of); over time they combined into a concise technical descriptor meaning 'having an anisyl group at the para position'.