'anticolic' is formed from the prefix 'anti-' (from Greek 'anti', meaning 'against') combined with 'colic' (from Latin/Greek roots relating to the colon and abdominal pain).

'colic' comes from Greek 'kolikos' (from 'kolon', meaning 'colon') into Latin 'colicus', then into Middle English as 'colic'; the prefix 'anti-' (Greek 'anti') was later attached in Modern English to form 'anticolic'.

Initially the parts meant 'against' + 'colon-related pain'; over time the compound came to mean more generally 'preventing or relieving colic'.