'antiperistasis' originates from Greek, specifically the word 'ἀντιπεριστάσις' (antiperistásis), where 'anti-' meant 'against', 'peri-' meant 'around', and 'stasis' meant 'standing'.

'antiperistasis' passed into Latin and Medieval Latin scientific and medical writings as 'antiperistasis' and was used in English from early modern texts describing natural-philosophical explanations; the modern English form is directly inherited from these classical/Latin usages.

Initially it had the literal components 'standing around against' and was used in Greek texts in a descriptive sense; over time it became specialized in natural philosophy and medicine to denote the idea that a quality is intensified by the presence or action of its opposite.