'counterculturalism' originates from Modern English, constructed from the prefix 'counter-' (from Latin 'contra' via Old French 'contre', meaning 'against'), the noun 'culture' (from Latin 'cultura', from 'colere' meaning 'to cultivate'), and the suffix '-ism' (from Greek '-ismos' via Latin '-ismus', meaning 'practice or ideology').

'counterculturalism' developed from the mid-20th century term 'counterculture' (coined in the 1960s to describe movements opposing mainstream norms); 'counterculture' gave rise to the adjective 'countercultural', and the noun-forming suffix '-ism' was later attached to produce 'counterculturalism' as the name for the ideology or phenomenon.

Initially it described opposition to mainstream cultural norms (being 'against' dominant culture); over time it came to denote both the collective movements that embody that opposition and the broader ideology or study of those movements.