'anti-tintinnabulation' is formed from the prefix 'anti-' and the noun 'tintinnabulation'. 'anti-' originates from Greek 'anti' meaning 'against', and 'tintinnabulation' derives from Latin 'tintinnabulum' (from the verb 'tintinnare') meaning 'a bell' or 'to ring'.

'tintinnabulum' in Latin gave rise to Late Latin/Medieval Latin forms such as 'tintinnabulatio', which entered English as 'tintinnabulation'; the modern compound 'anti-tintinnabulation' is a recent coinage formed by adding the Greek-derived prefix 'anti-' to that English noun.

Initially, the root referred specifically to the sound or action of ringing ('a bell' / 'to ring'); over time 'tintinnabulation' came to mean 'the ringing (sound) of bells', and the compound 'anti-tintinnabulation' has come to mean opposition to that ringing.