'anti-evolutionism' is formed from the prefix 'anti-' (from Greek 'anti', meaning 'against'), the noun 'evolution' (from Latin 'evolutio', from 'evolvere', meaning 'to unroll' or 'unfold'), and the suffix '-ism' (from Greek/Latin '-ismos'/'-ismus', used to form nouns denoting doctrines or movements).

The element 'evolution' entered English via Latin 'evolutio' and French 'évolution' and came to denote biological change and the scientific theory of evolution; the prefix 'anti-' (Greek) and suffix '-ism' (Greek/Latin) combined with 'evolution' in English usage during the 19th–20th centuries to form 'anti-evolutionism' for organized opposition to evolutionary theory.

Originally 'evolutio' meant 'an unrolling or unfolding' in Latin; over time 'evolution' shifted to mean biological development and the scientific theory of change in species, and 'anti-evolutionism' came to mean opposition specifically to that scientific theory rather than a literal 'against unrolling'.