1848 (also sometimes in Englished form hæmophily), from German hämophile, coined 1828 by German physician Johann Lucas Schönlein (1793-1864), from Greek haima "blood, bloodshed, streams of blood" (see -emia) + philia "to love" (see -philia), here with a sense of "tendency to."

masc. proper name, from Latin Lucas (Greek Loukas), contraction of Lucanus literally "of Lucania," district in Lower Italy, home of the Lucani, a branch of the Sabelline race. St. Luke, the Evangelist, is believed by some scholars to have been a Greek or Hellenized Jewish physician of Antioch. His feast day (Oct. 18) was formerly Lukesmas.