'hyperphantasia' originates from Greek, specifically the prefix 'hyper-' (from Greek 'huper') and the noun 'phantasia', where 'huper-' meant 'over, above' and 'phantasia' meant 'appearance, imagination'.

'phantasia' comes from Ancient Greek 'phantasia' (φάντασία), passed into Latin as 'phantasia' and into Medieval/Modern English largely in philosophical and psychological contexts; the modern compound 'hyperphantasia' was formed in recent neuroscience/psychology literature (21st century) by adding the Greek prefix 'hyper-' to 'phantasia' as a counterpart to 'aphantasia'.

Initially, 'phantasia' meant 'appearance' or 'the faculty of imagination' in Greek; over time the element came to be used in psychological terminology to denote mental imagery, and 'hyperphantasia' now specifically denotes exceptionally vivid mental imagery.