'antimitotic' originates from a modern scientific formation combining Greek elements: 'anti-' (Greek) meaning 'against' and 'mitotic' derived from 'mitosis' (Greek 'mitos') where 'mitos' meant 'thread'.

'antimitotic' was formed in modern medical/biological English by combining the prefix 'anti-' with 'mitotic' (from 'mitosis', a 19th-century coinage). 'Mitosis' itself was coined from Greek 'mitos' ('thread') to describe the appearance of chromosomes in cell division; 'antimitotic' arose later as a technical adjective/noun for agents opposing that process.

Initially it literally meant 'against mitosis'; over time it has come to be used specifically for drugs or actions that inhibit cell division, especially in oncology and cell biology.