'anticline' originates from New Latin, specifically the word 'anticlinalis', where 'anti-' meant 'opposite' and Greek 'klinein' meant 'to lean or slope'.

'anticlinalis' passed into 19th-century geological usage (French/Latin formations such as 'anticlinal' / 'anticline') and eventually became the English term 'anticline' (with plural 'anticlines').

Initially it referred to an 'opposite-leaning' or 'upward-arching' fold; over time it has become the standard geological term for an arch-shaped fold in rock strata used in structural geology and petroleum geology.