'anthracenone' originates from modern chemical formation: the base 'anthracene' combined with the ketone suffix '-one' (used in organic nomenclature). 'Anthracene' itself comes from French 'anthracène', ultimately from Greek 'ἄνθραξ' (anthrax) meaning 'coal'.

'anthracenone' was formed by adding the chemical suffix '-one' (established in 19th-century organic nomenclature) to 'anthracene' (a name adopted in European chemistry in the 19th century from French/German), producing the modern chemical name.

Initially, the root 'anthracene' referred to a compound isolated from coal tar ('coal' sense), and the addition of '-one' created a term specifying a ketone derivative; the modern meaning denotes specifically the ketone-type compounds based on the anthracene structure.