Late Middle English; earliest use found in Guy de Chauliac's Grande Chirurgie. From Middle French fleumagogue, French †phlegmagogue, †flegmagogue and its etymon post-classical Latin phlegmagogum, use as noun of phlegmagogus carrying off phlegm from Hellenistic Greek ϕλεγμαγωγός from ancient Greek ϕλέγμα + ἀγωγός drawing forth.