anti-

See also: Appendix:Variations of "anti"

Languages (24)

Basque • Catalan • Czech • Danish • Dutch • Esperanto • Finnish • French • Galician • Garo • German • Hungarian • Ido • Indonesian • Italian • Malay • Norwegian Bokmål • Norwegian Nynorsk • Portuguese • Romanian • Spanish • Swedish • Tagalog

Page categories

English

Pronunciation

(Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈænˌti/, /ˈæn.tɪ/
Audio (UK): (file)
(General American, Canada) IPA^(key): /ˈæn.ti/, [ˈɛə̯n.ti], /ˈænˌtaɪ/, [ˈɛə̯nˌtaɪ̯], /ˈæn.tə/, [ˈɛə̯n.tə]
- Audio (US): (file)
Homophones: anty, auntie (in some accents)
Hyphenation: an‧ti

Etymology 1

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *h₂ent-

Proto-Indo-European *-s

Proto-Indo-European *h₂énts

Proto-Indo-European *-i

Proto-Indo-European *h₂énti

Ancient Greek ᾰ̓ντῐ́ (ăntĭ́)

Ancient Greek ἀντι- (anti-)der.

English anti-

From Ancient Greek ἀντι- (anti-, “against”). Cognate with Old English and- (“against, in return, back, un-”), German ent- (“off, away, un-”). Doublet of ante- and un-.

Prefix

anti-

Against, opposed to.
Synonym: counter-

Antonym: pro-

‎anti- + ‎abortion → ‎antiabortion

‎anti- + ‎racism → ‎antiracism
- 2025 May 21, Julian Coman, “Maga Catholics are on a collision course with Leo XIV. They have good reason to fear him”, in The Guardian‎^[1], archived from the original on 1 June 2025:
  In the outer reaches of the Magasphere, it would be fair to say the advent of the first pope from the US has not been greeted with unbridled enthusiasm. Take Laura Loomer, the thirtysomething influencer and conspiracy theorist, whose verdict on Leo XIV was as instant as it was theologically uninformed: “Anti-Trump, anti-Maga, pro-open Borders, and a total Marxist like Pope Francis.”
Counteracting, neutralizing.
Synonym: counter-

‎anti- + ‎aircraft → ‎antiaircraft

‎anti- + ‎freeze → ‎antifreeze

‎anti- + ‎bacterial → ‎antibacterial
The opposite of what is typically expected.
‎anti- + ‎hero → ‎antihero (“a protagonist who acts in an unheroic manner”)

‎anti- + ‎climax → ‎anticlimax (“a failed or reverse climax”)

‎anti- + ‎chess → ‎antichess (“a variant of chess where the goal is to lose all of one's pieces”)
Physically opposite, reverse in position or direction.
‎anti- + ‎clockwise → ‎anticlockwise

‎anti- + ‎Arctic → ‎Antarctic
A rival or counterpart to.
‎anti- + ‎pope → ‎antipope (“a person who claims to be the real pope”)

‎anti- + ‎Christ → ‎Antichrist
(particle physics) Composed of antimatter.
‎anti- + ‎electron → ‎antielectron

‎anti- + ‎galaxy → ‎antigalaxy
(immunology) Reacting with immunoglobins found in the specified animal.
‎anti- + ‎rabbit → ‎antirabbit

‎anti- + ‎horse → ‎antihorse

Usage notes

anti- should not be confused with the prefix ante- of Latin (not Greek) origin meaning “before”. (However, anti- does exist as a variant spelling of ante- in some borrowed words, such as anticipate and antipasto, but this spelling cannot be used to coin English words.)
anti- sometimes becomes ant- before words beginning in a vowel, as does ante-: antacid.
In British English, the anti- forms are often hyphenated as evidenced by OED's many anti- entries using hyphen. However, the exact convention significantly varies.
GPO manual recommends using a hyphen when prefixing capitalized words except when usage dictates otherwise.^[1] This is matched by usual practice: anti-American or anti-Christian.

Derived terms

English terms prefixed with anti-

antiacetylcholinesterase

Translations

against, hostile to

Arabic: ضِدّ (ḍidd), مُضَادّ (muḍādd), نَقِيض (naqīḍ)
Armenian: հակա- (haka-)
Azerbaijani: anti-
Bulgarian: противо- (protivo-), анти- (anti-), а́нти- (ánti-)
Catalan: anti- (ca)
Chinese:
Mandarin: 反- (zh) (fǎn-), 抗 (zh) (kàng), 非 (zh) (fēi), 反對 / 反对 (zh) (fǎnduì)
Cornish: gorth-
Czech: anti- (cs), proti- (cs)
Dutch: anti- (nl)
Esperanto: kontraŭ-
Estonian: anti- (et)
Finnish: anti- (fi), vasta- (fi), epä- (fi)
French: anti- (fr)
Galician: anti- (gl)
Georgian: ანტი- (anṭi-)
German: gegen- (de), anti- (de)
Greek: αντι- (el) (anti-)
Hebrew: אנטי־ (anti-)
Hindi: प्रति- (prati-)
Hungarian: ellen- (hu), -ellenes (hu), elleni (hu), anti- (hu)
Ido: anti-
Irish: anta-
Italian: anti- (it)
Japanese: 反- (ja) (はん-, han-), 非 (ja) (ひ, hi), 逆 (ja) (ぎゃく, gyaku), 反対 (ja) (はんたい, hantai)
Kapampangan: kontra-, pangontra-
Korean: 안티 (anti), 반(反)- (ban-)
Latin: contra-
Latvian: pret-, anti-
Macedonian: против- (protiv-), анти- (anti-)
Malay: anti- (ms)
Māori: ātete
Old English: wiþer-
Persian: آنتی (fa) (ânti-), پادـ (pâd-)
Middle Persian: 𐭩𐭥𐭲 (yʿt /⁠ǰud-⁠/)
Polish: anty- (pl), przeciw- (pl)
Portuguese: anti- (pt)
Romanian: anti- (ro), contra- (ro)
Russian: про́тиво- (ru) (prótivo-), противо- (ru) (protivo-), а́нти- (ru) (ánti-), анти- (ru) (anti-)
Spanish: anti- (es), contra- (es)
Swedish: anti- (sv)
Tamil: எதிர் (ta) (etir)
Vietnamese: chống (vi)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

Norwegian: ^{(please verify)} anti- (no)

Etymology 2

Probably largely from association with etymology 1, either in English or in French, although some early formations (especially antichamber) reflect Italian anti-.^[2]

Prefix

anti-

Obsolete form of ante-.
antichamber, antiport, antiroom
- 1818, “A′ntiport”, in Samuel Johnson [author of original edition], edited by H[enry] J[ohn] Todd, A Dictionary of the English Language; […], volume I, London: […] Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown; […], →OCLC, signature AA, recto, column 2:
  A′ntiport.* n[oun] s[ubstantive] [Fr[ench] antiporte, Lat[in] ante and portus.] An outward gate or door. It should be written anteport.
- 1956 December, Richard Bernheimer, “Theatrum Mundi”, in James S[loss] Ackerman, editor, The Art Bulletin, volume XXXVIII, number 4, New York, N.Y.: College Art Association of America, →ISSN, →OCLC, section III, page 237:
  When Eleanor of Toledo entered her future capital in 1539, the decorations at the city gate had still been on a small scale, consisting of an antiportico, which may or may not have been embellished with painting and sculptures.

References

^ 6. Compounding Rules in U.S. Government Printing Office Style Manual, govinfo.gov
^ “ante-, prefix”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.

Anagrams

nait, Atin, ain't, aniṭ, Tian, tain, tian, tina, Tani, aint, Tain, TINA, -itan, NAIT, Tina

Basque

Etymology

From Ancient Greek ἀντι- (anti-, “against”).

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /anti/ [ãn̪.t̪i]
Hyphenation: an‧ti-

Prefix

anti-

anti-

Derived terms

Basque terms prefixed with anti-

antiheroi

antimikrobiar

Catalan

Etymology

From Ancient Greek ἀντι- (anti-, “against”).

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): (Northern, Balearic, Central, Valencia, Northwestern) [ˌan.ti]

Prefix

anti-

anti-

Derived terms

Czech

Etymology

From Ancient Greek ἀντι- (anti-, “against”).

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): [ˈantɪ]

Prefix

anti-

anti-
Synonym: proti-

Derived terms

Danish

Etymology

From Ancient Greek ἀντι- (anti-, “against”).

Prefix

anti-

anti-

Derived terms

Danish terms prefixed with anti-

References

“anti-,b” in Den Danske Ordbog

Dutch

Etymology

Ultimately from Ancient Greek ἀντι- (anti-).

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈɑn.ti/
Audio: (file)

Prefix

anti-

anti-

Derived terms

Descendants

→ Indonesian: anti-

Esperanto

Etymology

Derived from Ancient Greek ἀντι- (anti-, “against”).

Prefix

anti-

anti-

Derived terms

Esperanto terms prefixed with anti-

Finnish

Etymology

Internationalism (see English anti-), ultimately from Ancient Greek ἀντι- (anti-).

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈɑnti-/, [ˈɑ̝n̪t̪i-]

Prefix

anti-

(chiefly in loanwords) anti-
Synonym: vasta-

Derived terms

Anagrams

nait, tain, tina

French

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *h₂ent-

Proto-Indo-European *-s

Proto-Indo-European *h₂énts

Proto-Indo-European *-i

Proto-Indo-European *h₂énti

Ancient Greek ᾰ̓ντῐ́ (ăntĭ́)

Ancient Greek ἀντι- (anti-)lbor.

French anti-

Learned borrowing from Ancient Greek ἀντι- (anti-), from ᾰ̓ντῐ́ (ăntĭ́), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂énti, from *h₂énts + *-i.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ɑ̃.ti/
Audio (France (Vosges)): (file)
Audio (France (Lyon)): (file)

Prefix

anti-

anti-

Derived terms

French terms prefixed with anti-

anticonscriptionniste

anticonservateur

anticonsommateur

anticonstitutionnaire

Galician

Etymology

From Ancient Greek ἀντι- (anti-, “against”).

Prefix

anti-

anti-

Derived terms

From

.

Garo

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Classifier

anti-

classifier for weeks

Synonyms

sopta

German

Etymology

From Ancient Greek ἀντι- (anti-, “against”), influenced by Latin borrowings from Greek beginning with anti- (like Antichristus) and German borrowings from Latin or Greek. Doublet of ent-.