'antielectron' originates from 20th-century English coinage, formed from the prefix 'anti-' (from Greek 'anti') and 'electron' (from Greek 'ēlektron'), where 'anti-' meant 'against' and 'ēlektron' meant 'amber'.

'antielectron' was produced by combining the prefix 'anti-' + the word 'electron'. 'Electron' entered English via New/Modern Latin from Greek 'ēlektron' (meaning 'amber'), and the compound term emerged in physics in the early 20th century to name the particle opposite in charge to the electron.

Initially the elements meant 'against' (anti-) and 'amber' (electron's root), but combined in modern physics to mean 'the particle with charge opposite to that of an electron' (the positron).