'anticline' originates from French, specifically the word 'anticlinal,' ultimately built from Greek elements 'anti-' and 'klinein,' where 'anti-' meant 'opposite' and 'klinein' meant 'to lean' or 'to slope.'

'anticline' changed from the French word 'anticlinal' (and related 19th-century scientific uses in German such as 'Antiklinale') and eventually became the modern English geological term 'anticline'.

Initially the components conveyed the literal sense 'opposite slope' (i.e., inclined the other way), but over time the term evolved into the specific geological sense 'an arch-shaped upward fold in rock strata.'