'anti-reflective' originates from combining the prefix 'anti-' (from Greek 'anti') meaning 'against' and the adjective 'reflective' ultimately from Latin 'reflectere', where 're-' meant 'back' and 'flectere' meant 'to bend'.

'reflect' comes from Latin 'reflectere' (to bend back); it passed into Late Latin and Old French forms and into Middle English (e.g. 'reflecten') and eventually became the modern English 'reflect', from which 'reflective' was formed; 'anti-' was then added as a combining prefix to create 'anti-reflective'.

Initially, 'reflect' meant 'to bend back (light or other rays)'; over time 'reflective' came to mean 'capable of reflecting', and the compound 'anti-reflective' developed to mean 'opposed to reflecting' or 'reducing reflection'.