'anglophobic' originates from English, formed from the combining form 'Anglo-' (from Late Latin 'Angli', 'the Angles/English') and the suffix '-phobic' (from Greek 'phóbos', 'fear, panic').

'anglophobic' changed from the noun 'Anglophobia' plus the adjectival suffix '-ic' and eventually became the modern English word 'anglophobic' in the late 19th century.

Initially, it meant 'fearful of or hostile toward England or the English,' and this meaning has remained largely stable, now also applied to rhetoric or policy expressing such hostility.