'anthropocephalic' originates from Greek, specifically the words 'anthropos' and 'kephalē', where 'anthropos' meant 'human' and 'kephalē' meant 'head'.

'anthropocephalic' was formed in modern scientific English by combining the Greek roots (via New Latin formations such as 'anthropocephalus') with the adjective-forming suffix '-ic', resulting in the modern English 'anthropocephalic'.

Initially it meant 'having a human head' and that literal descriptive meaning has largely remained unchanged in specialist and descriptive usages.