'leukemogenic' originates from modern scientific English formation combining 'leukemia' and the suffix '-genic', where 'leuk-' (from Greek) meant 'white' and '-genic' meant 'producing' or 'causing'.

'leukemia' itself comes from Greek 'leukaiemia' (leuk- 'white' + haima 'blood'), a term adopted in 19th-century medical usage; later the suffix '-genic' (from Greek 'genēs'/'gen-' meaning 'born of' or 'producing') was added to form 'leukemogenic' in medical English to describe agents that produce leukemia.

Initially the components referred literally to 'white' and 'blood' (describing the appearance of the disease) and '-genic' to 'producing'; over time the compound came to mean specifically 'causing leukemia' in modern medical contexts.