'badland' originates from American English in the late 19th century, influenced by Native American (Lakota) place-names such as 'makȟóšiča' or 'mako sica' (often rendered as 'mako sica' or translated as 'bad lands'), where elements correspond to meanings like 'bad' and 'lands'.

'badland' began as the two-word descriptive phrase 'bad lands' used as a place-name (for example, the Badlands of South Dakota); the term was later generalized to describe similar eroded terrain and sometimes consolidated into the single word 'badland' or used in the plural 'badlands'.

Initially it referred specifically to certain named regions ('bad lands') and their particular harsh terrain; over time it broadened to mean any similarly eroded, barren landscape and then extended metaphorically to dangerous or lawless places or situations.