'anti-ketotic' originates from a modern combination of the Greek prefix 'anti-' (from Greek 'anti', where 'anti-' meant 'against') and the element 'ketotic' derived from 'ketosis' which in turn is based on 'ketone' (coined in 19th-century German/French 'Keton'), where 'ket-' referred to ketone compounds.

'ketone' was coined in the mid-19th century (German/French 'Keton'); from that came the medical formation 'ketosis' (Greek suffix '-osis') and the adjective 'ketotic' (with '-ic'); in modern medical English the prefix 'anti-' was attached to form 'anti-ketotic'.

Initially the parts meant 'against' (anti-) and a ketone-related condition (ketotic); over time the combined term has come to mean specifically 'preventing or inhibiting ketosis' in clinical and biochemical contexts.