'antileukaemic' originates as a compound of 'anti-' (from Greek/Latin via English), meaning 'against', and 'leukaemic', which relates to 'leukaemia' (from Greek 'leukos' meaning 'white' + 'haima' meaning 'blood') plus the adjectival suffix '-ic'.

'antileukaemic' developed in modern medical English from the prefix 'anti-' combined with 'leukaemic' (from 'leukaemia', a 19th-century coinage based on Greek). The element 'leuk-' comes from Greek 'leukos' ('white') and '-aemia'/'-emia' from Greek 'haima' ('blood'), producing 'leukaemia', and then the adjective 'leukaemic' and the compound 'antileukaemic'.

Initially the components referred literally to 'against white (blood) disease'; over time the compound's meaning stabilized to 'acting against or used to treat leukemia'.