the.com/existentialism

means The philosophical view that existence comes before essence—meaning humans aren't born with a fixed purpose or nature, but must create meaning through their own choices and actions.

from Built from the Latin 'existere' (to emerge, to stand forth) plus the philosophical suffix '-ism.' The term itself is younger than the ideas behind it — thinkers wrestling with freedom and absurdity had been writing for decades before 'existentialism' caught on in the mid-20th century as a label, popularized especially through French philosophical circles, even as some who got tagged with it (notably the writer most associated with it in the public mind) resisted the label itself.