'antidecalogue' originates from Greek elements: the prefix 'anti-' and the word 'dekalogos', where 'anti-' meant 'against', 'deka-' meant 'ten', and 'logos' meant 'word' or 'account'.

'dekalogos' passed into Late Latin as 'Decalogus' and then into Middle English and modern English as 'decalogue'; the modern English formation 'antidecalogue' arose by adding the Greek-derived prefix 'anti-' to 'decalogue' to indicate opposition.

Initially formed to indicate opposition to the Decalogue (the Ten Commandments); over time it has also been used more broadly to denote any list of ten counter-rules or a rhetorical inversion of a moral code.