'antireticular' originates from New Latin/Modern English compounding, specifically the prefix 'anti-' (from Greek 'anti') combined with the adjective 'reticular' (from Latin 'reticulum'), where 'anti-' meant 'against' and 'reticulum' meant 'little net'.

'reticular' derives from Latin 'reticulum' (a diminutive of 'rete' meaning 'net'), passed into Late Latin and then into English as 'reticular'; the prefix 'anti-' comes from Greek 'anti-', meaning 'against', and the compound 'antireticular' is formed in modern technical/scientific English by combining these elements.

Initially the elements referred literally to 'against a small net' or 'against a netlike structure'; over time the compound has been used more abstractly in scientific and technical contexts to describe agents or properties that prevent or counteract net-like organization.