'non-anthropoid' originates from English, combining the prefix 'non-' (from Latin 'non' meaning 'not') and 'anthropoid' (from Greek 'anthropos' meaning 'human' plus the suffix '-oid' from Greek 'eidos' meaning 'form' or 'appearance').

'anthropoid' came into English via Neo-Latin and modern scientific usage from Greek 'anthropoeidēs' (ἀνθρωποειδής), and the compound 'non-anthropoid' is a modern English formation using the productive negative prefix 'non-'.

Originally 'anthropoid' meant 'resembling a human' (or 'human-like'); the addition of the prefix 'non-' created the negated meaning 'not resembling humans or apes', which is the current sense of 'non-anthropoid'.