'antinode' originates from the Greek prefix 'anti-' (meaning 'opposite') combined with 'node' (from Latin 'nodus' meaning 'knot' via Old French/Middle English 'node').

'antinode' was formed in English by combining the prefix 'anti-' with 'node' (Latin 'nodus' → Old French/Middle English 'node') and entered technical usage in physics in the 19th century.

Initially it literally meant 'opposite of a node (knot)', but over time it acquired the technical sense 'a point of maximum amplitude in a standing wave'.