word-forming element of Greek origin meaning "against, opposed to, opposite of, instead," shortened to ant- before vowels and -h-, from Old French anti- and directly from Latin anti-, from Greek anti (prep.) "over, against, opposite; instead, in the place of; as good as; at the price of; for the sake of; compared with; in opposition to; in return; counter-," from PIE *anti "against," also "in front of, before" (from root *ant- "front, forehead," with derivatives meaning "in front of, before"), which became anti- in Italian (hence antipasto) and French.

It is cognate with Sanskrit anti "over, against," and Old English and- (the first element in answer). A common compounding element in Greek, in some combinations it became anth- for euphonic reasons. It appears in some words in Middle English but was not commonly used in English word formations until modern times. In a few English words (anticipate, antique) it represents Latin ante.

In noun compounds where it has the sense of "opposed to, opposite" (Antichrist, anti-communist) the accent remains on the anti-; in adjectives where it retains its old prepositional sense "against, opposed to," the accent remains on the other element (anti-Christian, anti-slavery).

"marriage within the tribe or group," 1865, from endo- on model of polygamy. Related: Endogamous (1865). Opposed to exogamy. Apparently both were coined by Scottish anthropologist John Ferguson McLennan (1827-1881) in "Primitive Marriage."

To this law, the converse of caste, forbidding marriage within the tribe, Mr. M'Lennan has given the name of exogamy: while, instead of caste, since that word involves notions unconnected with marriage, he has used the correlative word — endogamy. [review in The Lancet, March 25, 1865]

also pseudoscience, "a pretended or mistaken science," 1796 (the earliest reference is to alchemy), from pseudo- + science.

The term pseudo-science is hybrid, and therefore objectionable. Pseudognosy would be better etymology, but the unlearned might be apt to association with it the idea of a dog's nose, and thus, instead of taking "the eel of science by the tail," take the cur of science by the snout; so that all things considered we had better adopt the current term pseudo-sciences ["The Pseudo-Sciences," in The St. James's Magazine, January 1842]

"wrongful conduct, the doing of that which ought not to be done," especially "official misconduct, violation of a public trust or obligation," 1690s, from French malfaisance "wrongdoing," from malfaisant, from mal- "badly" (see mal-) + faisant, present participle of faire "to do," from Latin facere "to do" (from PIE root *dhe- "to set, put").

[S]pecifically, the doing of an act which is positively unlawful or wrongful, in contradistinction to misfeasance, or the doing of a lawful act in a wrongful manner. The term is often inappropriately used instead of misfeasance. [Century Dictionary]

 Malfeasor "wrong-doer" is attested from early 14c. Related: Malfeasant.

"an occasional pastime, an activity other than that for which one is well-known, or at which one excells," 1963, from French, literally "Ingres' violin," from the story that the great painter preferred to play his violin (badly) for visitors instead of showing them his pictures.

Une légende, assez suspecte, prétend que le peintre Ingres état plus fier de son jeu sur le violon, jeu qui était fort ordinaire, que de sa peinture, qui l'avait rendu illustre. [Larousse du XXe Siecle, 1931]

"one who goes back and forth to work," 1865, American English, originally "holder of a commutation ticket," agent noun from commute (v.).

A commutation ticket (1848) was a ticket issued (by a railroad, etc.) at a reduced rate entitling the holder to travel over a given route a limited number of times or an unlimited number of times over a certain period. It is from commute in its sense of "to change one kind of payment into another" (1795), especially "to combine a number of payments into a single one, pay a single sum instead of a number of successive payments" (1845).