'anti-mitotic' originates from the combining of the Greek prefix 'anti-' meaning 'against' and the modern scientific term 'mitotic' (from 'mitosis'), where 'mitosis' comes from Greek 'mitos' meaning 'thread'.

'mitosis' was coined in modern scientific usage in the late 19th century from Greek 'mitos' ('thread'); the adjective 'mitotic' derived from that, and the compound 'anti-mitotic' arose later (20th century) in pharmacology and cell biology by adding the prefix 'anti-' to denote opposition to mitosis.

Initially, 'mitosis' referred to the 'threadlike' appearance of chromosomes; over time it came to mean the process of cell division, and 'anti-mitotic' has come to mean 'opposing or inhibiting that process'.