'anticathode' is formed in Modern English from the prefix 'anti-' (from Greek 'anti' meaning 'against, opposite') combined with 'cathode' (from Greek 'kathodos' meaning 'downward way' or 'descent').

'anticathode' likely appeared in the 19th century as the hyphenated form 'anti-cathode' in scientific writing and later was written as the single word 'anticathode'; 'cathode' itself was coined in the early 19th century from Greek 'kathodos'.

Initially used simply to denote the electrode opposite the cathode (i.e., the anode), the term became a rare or specialist/archaic synonym of 'anode' and is largely uncommon in modern usage.