'antiscorbutical' originates from a combination of Greek and Latin—Greek 'anti-' and Latin 'scorbutus'—where 'anti-' meant 'against' and 'scorbutus' meant 'scurvy'.

'antiscorbutical' developed as a variant of the adjective 'antiscorbutic', formed in English in the 18th–19th century from 'anti-' + Latin 'scorbutus', and the longer variant '-ical' was later used in some texts.

Initially it meant 'serving to prevent or cure scurvy'; over time the meaning has largely remained the same, though the term is now rare and somewhat archaic.