'countermodel' is a compound of 'counter' and 'model'. 'Counter' originates from Latin 'contra' via Old French 'contre' and Middle English 'countre', meaning 'against'. 'Model' originates from Latin 'modulus' via Old French/Italian (e.g. 'modele'/'modello'), meaning 'measure' or 'pattern'.

'counter' developed from Latin 'contra' → Old French 'contre' → Middle English 'countre'; 'model' developed from Latin 'modulus' → Old French/Italian 'modele'/'modello' → Middle English 'model'. The compound 'countermodel' is a modern English formation combining these elements to mean an opposing model (attested in technical usage in the 19th–20th century, especially in logic and philosophy).

The elements originally referred to 'against' and 'measure/pattern'; combined, they came to mean 'a model used against another' and later acquired the more technical sense 'a model that refutes or serves as a counterexample' in logic and related fields.