'anti-miscegenation' originates from Modern English, formed from the prefix 'anti-' (from Greek 'antí' meaning 'against') and the noun 'miscegenation' (a 19th-century English coinage modeled on Latin roots 'miscēre' meaning 'to mix' and 'genus' meaning 'race').

'anti-miscegenation' changed from the combination of 'anti-' + the newly coined English word 'miscegenation' (coined in the United States in the mid-19th century) and eventually became the established modern English term 'anti-miscegenation' used to describe laws or attitudes opposing interracial mixing.

Initially, it primarily referred to laws and policies forbidding interracial marriage and sexual relations; over time it has come to denote the broader ideology and social opposition to interracial relationships.