'anti-metaphorical' is built in modern English from the prefix 'anti-' (from Greek 'anti-' meaning 'against, opposite') and the adjective 'metaphorical' (from 'metaphor' + '-ical'), where 'metaphor' comes from Greek 'metaphora'.

'metaphor' originates from Greek 'metaphora' (μεταφορά), from 'meta-' meaning 'beyond, across' and 'pherein' meaning 'to carry'; it passed into Latin and then Old French/Medieval Latin before entering Middle English as 'metaphor', later forming the adjective 'metaphorical'. The modern compound 'anti-metaphorical' was formed in English by prefixing 'anti-' to 'metaphorical' to indicate opposition to metaphorical usage.

Originally 'metaphora' meant 'a transfer' or 'to carry across' (a notion of transfer or comparison). Over time 'metaphor' came to mean a rhetorical figure of speech; 'anti-' has consistently meant 'against', and the compound now specifically means 'against or not using metaphor; literal'.