'antiparallelogram' originates from English by combining the prefix 'anti-' (from Greek 'anti-' meaning 'against' or 'opposite') with 'parallelogram' (from Greek 'parallēlogrammon'), where the elements of 'parallelogram' relate to 'para-' ('beside') and 'allēlos' ('each other').

'parallelogram' comes via Latin/Greek 'parallēlogrammon' into Middle and Modern English as 'parallelogram', and the English prefix 'anti-' was attached in modern mathematical usage to indicate a figure opposite or contrasted to a parallelogram, producing 'antiparallelogram'.

Initially formed as a compound indicating a figure 'opposite' or 'contrary' to a parallelogram; it has come to denote specifically the self-intersecting quadrilateral with opposite sides equal.