'anapaest' originates from Latin, specifically the word 'anapaestus', which came from Ancient Greek 'anapaistos', where 'ana-' meant 'back' and 'paiein' meant 'to strike'.

'anapaistos' transformed into the Latin word 'anapaestus', and eventually became the modern English word 'anapaest' through Middle English.

Initially, it meant 'struck back' or 'reversed', referring to the reversed pattern of syllables compared to a dactyl, and over time it evolved into its current meaning of 'a metrical foot with two short and one long syllable'.