'antiperthite' originates from the Greek-derived prefix 'anti-' (from Greek 'antí') and the mineral name 'perthite' (English), where 'anti-' meant 'against' or 'opposite' and 'perthite' referred to the feldspar intergrowth pattern.

'antiperthite' was coined in mineralogical literature as a compound of 'anti-' + 'perthite' to denote the inverse of perthite; 'perthite' itself became established earlier in mineralogy to name the K-feldspar host with exsolved albite lamellae, and 'antiperthite' later described the reversed host-exsolution relationship.

Initially it meant 'the inverse of perthite (i.e., plagioclase host with K-feldspar exsolutions)', and this technical meaning has remained stable in geological usage.