'antiresonator' originates from a combination of Greek and Latin-derived elements: the Greek prefix 'anti-' (from Greek 'anti', meaning 'against') combined with 'resonator', ultimately from Latin 'resonare' ('re-' + 'sonare', meaning 'to sound again' or 'resound').

'resonator' comes from Latin 'resonare' ('to resound') which passed into scientific and technical Latin and then into English as 'resonator'; the productive prefix 'anti-' (Greek) was later attached in Modern English to form the compound 'antiresonator'.

Initially the parts meant 'against' + 'to resound' (i.e., opposing resounding); over time the compound came to denote a device or structure that suppresses or cancels a resonance at a specific frequency.