'antepredicamental' originates from Latin, specifically the elements 'ante-' and 'praedicamentum', where 'ante-' meant 'before' and 'praedicare' (related to 'praedicamentum') meant 'to predicate' or 'to declare', and 'praedicamentum' meant 'a category, predication'.

'antepredicamental' developed from Medieval Latin phrasing such as 'ante praedicamentum' (literally 'before the predication/category') and entered English in scholarly and philosophical contexts as a compound adjective describing status prior to assignment to the classical predicaments (categories).

Initially it referred generally to something 'before predication' in Latin scholastic usage; over time its use narrowed to technical discussion in logic and the history of philosophy to mean 'prior to classification under the predicaments'.