'antehuman' originates from Latin, specifically the prefix 'ante-' meaning 'before' combined with the word 'humanus' meaning 'human'.

'antehuman' was formed in modern English by combining the Latin prefix 'ante-' and 'human' (from Latin 'humanus'); the formation appears in scientific and scholarly usage to denote times or conditions preceding humans and was adopted directly into English.

Initially, it meant 'before human' in a literal compositional sense, and over time it has retained that core sense of 'relating to a period or state preceding humans'.