Poly(amic diethyl ester) [PAE] precursors of four different polyimides with various chain rigidities were synthesized and thermally converted to the polyimides in thin films: rodlike poly(p-phenylene pyromellitimide) [PMDA-PDA] and poly(4,4＇-biphenylene pyromellitimide) [PMDA-BZ], pseudo-rodlike poly(p-phenylene biphenylenetetracarboximide) [BPDA-PDA] and semiflexible poly(4,4-oxydiphenylene pyromellitimide) [PMDA-ODA PAE]. For the polyimide films, water sorption behaviors were investigated by gravimetry and then compared with those of the polyimides prepared from the corresponding poly(amic acid) [PAA] precursors. In addition, their morphological structures were examined by X-ray diffraction. For all the polyimides, both water sorption and morphological structure were dependent upon the history of precursor origin. All the polyimides except PMDA-ODA revealed relatively higher diffusion coefficient of water, higher water sorption, lower intermolecular packing order and lower population of a more ordered phase in the PAE-derived polyimide films than the corresponding PAA-derived polyimide films. For PMDA-ODA, the variations in the water diffusion and sorption due to the precursor origin were relatively small in spite of a relatively large change in the morphological structure. Overall, the effect of precursor origin on the water diffusion and sorption is significantly high in the rodlike or pseudo-rodlike polyimides having a high chain rigidity and high intermolecular packing order, but relatively low in the semiflexible polyimide with a relatively low chain rigidity. In comparison, regardless of the precursor origins, the diffusion coefficient of water was in the decreasing order PMDA-ODA > PMDA-PDA > PMDA-BZ > BPDA-PDA and, however, the water sorption was in the decreasing order PMDA-PDA > PMDA-BZ > PMDA-ODA > BPDA-PDA. These water diffusion and sorption behaviors were understood by considering their chemical affinities to water in addition to the morphological structures.