'existence' originates from Latin, specifically from Medieval Latin 'existentia' (from 'exsistere'), where 'ex-' meant 'out' or 'forth' and 'sistere' (from 'stare') meant 'to stand'.

'exsistere' in Latin (meaning 'to stand forth, emerge') developed into Medieval Latin 'existentia' and was borrowed into English as 'existence' in the early modern period, yielding the modern English noun 'existence' and its plural 'existences'.

Initially it referred to 'standing forth' or 'coming into being'; over time it shifted to the more general sense of the 'state or fact of being' used today.