'anopisthographic' originates from Greek, specifically the word 'an-opisthographos', where 'an-' meant 'not', 'opistho-' meant 'behind, at the back', and 'graphos' meant 'to write'.

'anopisthographic' developed from the Greek compound 'opisthographos' (meaning 'written on the back') with the negative prefix 'an-' added; via Late/Medieval Latin and later scholarly usage the form entered English as 'anopisthographic'.

Initially it referred to the condition of not being written on the back (i.e. 'not back-written'); over time it has come to be used to describe items that are 'written on one side only'.