'anti-gravity' is formed from the prefix 'anti-' (from Greek 'anti' meaning 'against') combined with 'gravity' (from Latin 'gravitas' meaning 'weight, heaviness'). "'anti-' originates from Greek 'anti-' meaning 'against', and 'gravity' originates from Latin 'gravitas' meaning 'weight' or 'heaviness'."

'gravity' comes from Latin 'gravitas' via Old French 'gravité' into Middle English 'gravitie' and eventually modern English 'gravity'. The prefix 'anti-' entered English from Greek through Latin and Old French usage as a productive prefix meaning 'against' or 'opposite'. 'anti-gravity' is a modern compound formed in English by joining these elements to denote opposition to gravity.

The components originally meant 'against' (anti-) and 'weight/heaviness' (gravitas); combined in modern English the compound has come to mean either a hypothesized physical phenomenon that negates gravity or technologies/devices purported to do so, a sense shaped largely by scientific and science-fiction contexts.