leukaemia

British  

/ luːˈkiːmɪə /

noun

1. an acute or chronic disease characterized by a gross proliferation of leucocytes, which crowd into the bone marrow, spleen, lymph nodes, etc, and suppress the blood-forming apparatus

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Etymology

Origin of leukaemia

C19: from _leuco- + Greek haima blood

Example Sentences

Two sisters who believed they were fraternal twins discovered they were in fact identical - after one of them was diagnosed with leukaemia at the age of 23.

From BBC • Feb. 24, 2026

Diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia at two years old, Dylan spent much of his early childhood undergoing intensive chemotherapy.

From BBC • Jan. 28, 2026

Among the patients who died was 10-year-old Milly Main, who acquired an infection while in remission for leukaemia, and 84 children were infected.

From BBC • Jan. 25, 2026

Seventeen years later, she was diagnosed with leukaemia, in a family where her grandmother, mother and aunt already suffered from thyroid cancer.

From Barron's • Jan. 22, 2026

The excess over the normal is in many cases small; it is said to be absent in some persons, and rarely, if ever reaches the quantity found in leukaemia.

From The Chemistry of Food and Nutrition by Duncan, A. W.