'anoxemia' originates from Modern medical New Latin/Greek, specifically from the combining forms 'an-' (Greek) meaning 'without', 'oxys' (Greek) originally meaning 'sharp' but later associated with 'oxygen', and '-haima' (Greek) meaning 'blood'.

'anoxemia' was formed in New Latin/medical Greek from Greek elements ('an-' + 'oxys' + 'haima') and entered modern medical English as 'anoxemia' (with British spelling variant 'anoxaemia').

Initially it referred to the state of 'without oxygen in the blood' and over time has retained this specific medical meaning describing a deficiency or absence of oxygen in the blood.