'antiderivative' originates from the Greek prefix 'anti-' meaning 'against, opposite' combined with the English word 'derivative' (from Latin 'derivatus' / 'derivare' meaning 'to draw off or derive').

'antiderivative' was formed in English by combining 'anti-' and 'derivative' to name the operation reversing differentiation; 'derivative' itself came into English via Latin 'derivatus' / 'derivare' (and Old French/Medieval Latin forms) and then Middle English.

Initially constructed as a term meaning 'opposite of a derivative' or 'that which reverses taking a derivative'; it evolved to the precise modern mathematical sense 'a function whose derivative is the given function' (equivalently, an indefinite integral).