'anti-icon' is a modern English compound formed from the combining prefix 'anti-' (from Greek 'anti' meaning 'against') and 'icon' (from Greek 'eikōn' meaning 'image' or 'likeness').

The element 'icon' entered English via Late Latin and Old French from Greek 'eikōn'; the prefix 'anti-' comes from Greek 'anti' and was adopted into English formation patterns. The compound 'anti-icon' is a relatively recent coinage in 20th–21st century cultural criticism and discourse.

Initially the components literally conveyed 'against an image'; over time the compound has come to denote opposition to iconic status or the deliberate rejection/subversion of being admired as an icon.