autobiography
Meaningself-life writing
Common meaning: a person's life written by themselves
- autoself; the sameLiddell & Scott, Intermediate Greek-English Lexicon (1889), p. 135 · scan
- biolife, way of livingLiddell & Scott, Greek-English Lexicon (1883), p. 283 · scan
- graphto scratch marks, hence to write or drawLiddell & Scott, Greek-English Lexicon (1883), p. 317 · scan
- ynoun ending: study, state or act
‘self’ + ‘life, way of living’ + ‘to scratch marks, hence to write or draw’ → autobiography
Journey through time
- auto — Ancient Greek αὐτός (autós) “self; the same” (path traced)
- bio — Ancient Greek βίος (bíos) “life, way of living” (path traced)
- graph — Ancient Greek γράφω (gráphō) “to scratch marks, hence to write or draw” (path traced)
- Greekαὐτός (autós) + βίος (bíos) + γράφω (gráphō)‘self + life, way of living + to scratch marks, hence to write or draw’
- Englishautobiography‘a person's life written by themselves’ · today
Sources & notes
Meaning: “Meaning” is the sense that emerges from the word’s roots; “Common meaning” is today’s everyday sense. Both written by us.
Pronunciation
- UK IPA: converted from the US form by rule (unchecked). Respelling: generated.
- No UK recording; the speaker uses your device’s en-GB voice.
- US IPA: CMUdict (BSD-2), converted to IPA by rule. Respelling: generated.
- No US recording; the speaker uses your device’s en-US voice.
Origin: Built on Ancient Greek αὐτός (autós) ‘self; the same’ + Ancient Greek βίος (bíos) ‘life, way of living’ + Ancient Greek γράφω (gráphō) ‘to scratch marks, hence to write or draw’.
Did you know: our wording, based on Liddell & Scott, Greek-English Lexicon (1883), entry γράφω (gráphō), p. 317 · dictionary scan; Skeat, Etymological Dictionary (1898), entry PARAGRAPH, p. 420 · dictionary scan
Roots
- αὐτός (autós) Ancient Greek “self; the same”
- βίος (bíos) Ancient Greek “life, way of living”
- γράφω (gráphō) Ancient Greek “to scratch marks, hence to write or draw”
Related words
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