The term leukemia was first documented in an 1855 medical textbook, spelled leukæmia with an ash. This spelling persisted until the 1950s when the letters a and e were separated, leading to a surge in literary usage, particularly peaking in the 1970s. The word was adopted from the German Leukämie, which was coined in the mid-nineteenth century from the Greek words leukos (meaning “white”) and haima (meaning “blood”), referring to the abnormal accumulation of white blood cells associated with the disease. Additionally, leukos derives from the Proto-Indo-European root leuk (also meaning “white”), while haima is traced back to Proto-Indo-European sei (meaning “to drip”).
