Etymology
Advertisement
auto (n.)

1899 as shortened form of automobile (q.v.). Similar evolution yielded French, German auto.

Related entries & more 
Advertisement
auto-focus (n.)

"device that focuses automatically," by 1933 in photography, originally of enlargers; by 1942 of lenses, from auto- + focus (n.).

Related entries & more 
auto-erotic (adj.)

also autoerotic, 1898, coined by Havelock Ellis from auto- + erotic. Related: Auto-eroticism (1898). The opposite is allo-erotic.

By "auto-erotism" I mean the phenomena of spontaneous sexual emotion generated in the absence of an external stimulus proceeding, directly or indirectly, from another person. [Ellis, "Auto-Erotism," in The Alienist and Neurologist, April 1898]
Related entries & more 
automaker (n.)

"manufacturer of automobiles," 1925, from auto "automobile" + maker.

Related entries & more 
autocade (n.)

"procession or parade of automobiles," 1922, from auto "automobile" + ending from cavalcade.

Related entries & more 
Advertisement
autogamy (n.)

"self-fertilization," 1877, from auto- "self" + -gamy "fertilization." Related: Autogamous (1880).

Related entries & more 
autolatry (n.)

"self-worship," 1620s (in Latinate form autolatria), from auto- "self" + -latry "worship of."

Related entries & more 
autosuggestion (n.)

also auto-suggestion, "hypnotic or subconscious adoption of an idea by one's own effort," 1879, a hybrid from auto- + suggestion. The idea, and probably the model for the word, are from French.

Related entries & more 
auto- 

word-forming element meaning "self, one's own, by oneself, of oneself" (and especially, from 1895, "automobile"), from Greek autos, reflexive pronoun, "self, same," which is of unknown origin. It also was a common word-forming element in ancient Greek, as in modern English, but very few of the old words have survived the interval. In Greek, as a word-forming element, auto- had the sense of "self, one's own, of oneself ('independently'); of itself ('natural, native, not made'); just exactly; together with." Before a vowel, it became aut-; before an aspirate, auth-. In Greek it also was used as a prefix to proper names, as in automelinna "Melinna herself." The opposite prefix would be allo-.

Related entries & more 
autosome (n.)

"an ordinary (non-sex) chromosome," 1906, coined by U.S. cytologist T.H. Montgomery from auto- + -some (3). Related: Autosomal.

Related entries & more