'antimetathetic' originates from modern English formation: the prefix 'anti-' from Greek 'anti' meaning 'against' combined with 'metathetic', derived from Greek 'metathesis' meaning 'a change of position.'

'antimetathetic' is formed from the adjective 'metathetic' (from the Greek noun 'metathesis') with the prefix 'anti-'; the element 'metathesis' passed into Latin and then into Middle and Modern English as 'metathesis', and modern English formed 'metathetic' and then 'antimetathetic' by prefixation.

Initially related to the concept of 'change of position' (metathesis); with the addition of 'anti-' the term has come to denote opposition to or inversion of typical placement — i.e., deliberate reversal of order.