'lymphocyte-predominant' originates from Modern English, specifically the compound of 'lymphocyte' and 'predominant'. 'lymphocyte' comes from New Latin 'lymphocytus' (from Greek/Latin roots) where 'lymph-' related to Latin 'lympha' meaning 'clear water/lymph' and '-cyte' from Greek 'kytos' meaning 'cell'; 'predominant' originates from Latin 'praedominans' (present participle of 'praedominari'), where 'prae-' meant 'before/in front of' and 'dominari' meant 'to dominate'.

'lymphocyte' was coined in the late 19th century from 'lymph' + '-cyte' to mean a type of white blood cell; 'predominant' entered English earlier via Latin/Old French influence and Middle English. The compounded attributive form 'lymphocyte-predominant' is a 20th-century medical coinage used in pathology and clinical descriptions (e.g., 'lymphocyte-predominant Hodgkin lymphoma').

Initially it denoted simply the condition of being dominated by lymphocytes; the meaning has remained technical and stable, now commonly used to classify disease subtypes in pathology and hematology.