'antennae-related' originates from Latin and Late Latin elements: specifically from Latin 'antenna' (plural 'antennae'), where 'antenna' originally meant 'sail-yard' (a spar on a ship), and from the Latin past-participle element behind 'related' (via Old French 'relater'), where 're-' meant 'again/toward' and the root conveyed 'carried/brought'.

'antennae-related' was formed in modern English by combining the plural noun 'antennae' (borrowed into English from Latin; 'antenna' came to be used for radio/aerial devices in the 19th century and for insect sensory organs in zoology by the early 19th century) with the adjective-forming/participial element 'related' (from Old French 'relater' and Latin 'relatus'). The hyphenated compound is a recent English adjectival formation.

Initially 'antenna' referred to a 'sail-yard' in Latin and later shifted to denote projecting rods (first for devices, then for insect appendages); 'related' originally meant 'brought back' (from Latin 'relatus') and evolved to mean 'connected to' — together the compound now means 'connected to antennae'.