'antipodes' originates from Greek, specifically the word 'ἀντίποδες' (antípodes), where 'anti-' meant 'opposite' and 'pous/ποδ-' meant 'foot'.

'antipodes' passed into Late Latin as 'antipodes' and then into Medieval and Middle English as 'antipodes', eventually becoming the modern English word 'antipodes'.

Initially it meant literally 'having the feet opposite' (a literal description from Greek); over time it came to mean 'points on opposite sides of the Earth' and later acquired the figurative sense of 'the exact opposite'.