'autohemic' originates from Greek, specifically from the elements 'autos' and 'haima', where 'autos' meant 'self' and 'haima' meant 'blood'.

'autohemic' was formed in modern medical English from the combination of Greek elements ('auto-' + a form of 'haema/haema-') via New Latin medical coinages (e.g. 'autohaemic'), and eventually became the modern English adjective 'autohemic'.

Initially, it meant 'pertaining to one's own blood'; over time its use has remained largely medical but has narrowed to contexts such as treatments or transfusions involving a person's own blood.