'antihumbuggist' is a Modern English compound formed from the prefix 'anti-' (from Greek 'anti-' via Latin, meaning 'against'), the noun 'humbug' (English, meaning 'deception, nonsense'), and the agent-forming suffix '-ist' (from Greek/Latin/French usage to denote a person associated with a practice or belief).

'humbug' entered English in the mid-18th century to mean 'impudent deception' (origin uncertain). The productive prefix 'anti-' has been used in English since classical borrowings to indicate opposition, and the suffix '-ist' has been used since the 18th–19th centuries to form agent nouns; these elements combined in Modern English to form 'antihumbuggist'.

The compound originally and chiefly meant 'a person opposed to humbug (deception)'; its core meaning has remained stable as someone who opposes or exposes deception, though usage has been relatively rare and sometimes pejorative.