'hemopoietic' originates from Greek, specifically the words 'haima' and 'poiētikos', where 'haima' meant 'blood' and 'poiētikos' meant 'making'.

'hemopoietic' changed from Neo-Latin/Modern Latin 'haematopoieticus' (formed from the combining elements 'haemo-' + '-poietic') and was adapted into English as 'hemopoietic' (with variant spellings 'haemopoietic' and 'haematopoietic').

Initially it meant 'making blood' (literally 'blood-making'), but over time it evolved into its current adjectival use meaning 'relating to the formation of blood or blood cells'.