"one who practices phlebotomy, a blood-letter," 1650s, from phlebotomy + -ist. Related: Phlebotomize. The earlier noun and verb in English were fleobotomier, fleobotomien (early 15c.).
Entries linking to phlebotomist
phlebotomy n.
"blood-letting," c. 1400, flebotomye, fleobotomie, from Old French flebotomie (13c., Modern French phlébotomie) and directly from Medieval Latin phlebotomia, from Greek phlebotomia "blood-letting," from phlebotomos "opening veins," from phleps (genitive phlebos) "a vein" (a word of uncertain origin) + tomē "a cutting" (from PIE root *tem- "to cut").
-ist
word-forming element meaning "one who does or makes," also used to indicate adherence to a certain doctrine or custom, from French -iste and directly from Latin -ista (source also of Spanish, Portuguese, Italian -ista), from Greek agent-noun ending -istes, which is from -is-, ending of the stem of verbs in -izein, + agential suffix -tes.
Variant -ister (as in chorister, barrister) is from Old French -istre, on false analogy of ministre. Variant -ista is from Spanish, popularized in American English 1970s by names of Latin-American revolutionary movements.