'antiparticle' originates from the Greek prefix 'anti-' meaning 'against' or 'opposite' combined with the English word 'particle', which ultimately comes from Latin 'particula' meaning 'small part'.

'antiparticle' was coined in the 20th century in the context of physics (after theoretical predictions such as Paul Dirac's positron prediction in 1928) by combining 'anti-' + 'particle' to name particles that are counterparts to ordinary particles.

Initially used specifically for the positron and other theoretically predicted opposites, it evolved into the general term for any particle that is the antimatter counterpart of another particle.