'anti-schooling' originates from the Greek prefix 'anti-' meaning 'against' combined with the English noun 'schooling' (from 'school' + the gerund suffix '-ing').

'school' comes from Old English 'scolu' and Latin 'schola,' ultimately from Greek 'scholē' meaning 'leisure' (place of learning). The suffix '-ing' formed the noun 'schooling' in Modern English to mean the process of being schooled. The productive prefix 'anti-' has been used in Modern English to form oppositional compounds (e.g., 'anti-war'), and 'anti-schooling' emerged in 20th–21st century discourse around education reform and alternative education movements.

The original elements meant 'against' (anti-) and 'place/act of schooling' (school/schooling); together they evolved into a compound denoting a stance or movement opposing institutionalized schooling rather than a literal 'against school' phrase.