'antiship' originates from the prefix 'anti-' (via Latin/French ultimately from Greek 'anti' meaning 'against') combined with English 'ship' (from Old English 'scip' meaning 'boat' or 'vessel').

'anti-' entered English as a combining element from Greek through Latin and Old French; 'ship' developed from Old English 'scip' to modern 'ship'. The compound form 'anti-ship' arose in modern (20th century) military usage to name weapons or tactics directed against ships and later appears as the concatenated form 'antiship'.

Initially a literal sense of 'against ships', it became specialized in military contexts to mean 'designed to attack or sink ships' (as in 'antiship missile').