'antievolutionist' originates from a combination of elements from Greek and Latin via English: 'anti-' from Greek 'anti' meaning 'against', 'evolution' from Latin 'evolutio' (from 'evolvere') meaning 'unrolling' or 'development', and the agent suffix '-ist' (from Greek/Latin/French) meaning 'one who is concerned with or practices'.

'evolution' entered English from Latin 'evolutio' via French 'évolution' in the 17th–18th centuries; the suffix '-ist' was added in English to form 'evolutionist', and 'anti-' was prefixed to create 'antievolutionist' to denote opposition.

Initially, 'evolution' referred to 'an unrolling' or 'a bringing forth'; over time it came to mean 'biological change over generations' and 'antievolutionist' came to mean 'one opposed to the scientific theory of biological evolution.'