"A" Word Origins

Austen

Old French

A variant of the name Austin, from Old French forms of "Augustine."

austere

Greek

From Greek austērós ("harsh, bitter"), originally describing the sharp taste of unripe fruit or wine.

austerity

Greek

From Greek austērótēs ("harshness"); built from austere plus the suffix -ity.

Austin

Latin

From Old French Austin, a popular shortened form of Augustin, from Latin Augustīnus.

Australia

Latin · 1800

From Latin terra austrālis incōgnita ("unknown southern land"), popularised by explorer Matthew Flinders in the early 1800s.

Australian

Origin

From Australia plus the suffix -an.

Austria

Latin

From Latin Austria, based on Old High German Ōstarrīhhi, meaning roughly "eastern realm." Despite sounding similar, Austria and Australia come from different roots meaning "east" and "south" respectively.

Austrian

Origin

From Austria plus the suffix -an.

auteur

Origin

Borrowed from French auteur (“author”). Popularised by François Truffaut in the 1954 essay “Une certaine tendance du cinéma français” (“A certain tendency in French cinema”) in the influential film journal Cahiers du Cinéma as the phrase “la politique des Auteurs”. Doublet of author.

authentic

Latin

From Old French autentique, from Latin authenticus, from Greek authentikós ("genuine").

authenticate

Origin

From authentic plus the verb-forming suffix -ate.

authentication

Origin

From authenticate plus the suffix -ion.

authenticity

Origin

From authentic plus the suffix -ity.

author

Latin

From Old French autor, from Latin auctor ("originator, creator"). The "h" was added later by mistaken association with "authentic."

authoritarian

Origin · 1880

From authority plus the suffix -arian, first used around 1880.

authoritative

Latin

From authority plus the suffix -ative, both ultimately from Latin auctor ("originator").

authority

Latin

From Old French auctorité, from Latin auctōritās ("influence, command"), from auctor ("author, originator").

authorization

Origin

From authorize plus the suffix -ation.

authorize

Medieval Latin

From Old French auctorisier, from Medieval Latin auctōrizāre, from Latin auctor.

autism

Origin

Borrowed from German Autismus, coined by Swiss psychiatrist Eugen Bleuler, first usage dated to 1907 attributed by Carl Jung as an alternative of his for "auto-erotism", although Bleuler himself differentiates the terms in his book Dementia Praecox, first published 1911. From Ancient Greek αὐτός (autós, “self”) + -ισμός (-ismós, “-ism”).

autistic

Origin · 1913

From autism plus the adjective-forming suffix -istic. The clinical sense was first used in 1913 and refined by psychiatrist Leo Kanner in 1943.

auto

Greek

A shortened form of "automobile," ultimately from Greek autós ("self").

autobahn

German

Borrowed directly from German Autobahn ("car road"), from Auto ("car") and Bahn ("path, way").

autobiographic

Origin

From auto- + biographic.

autobiographical

Origin

From autobiography plus the adjective suffix -ical.

autobiography

Greek

From auto- ("self") plus biography, from Greek bíos ("life") and gráphō ("write").

autochthon

Origin

From Ancient Greek αὐτόχθων (autókhthōn, “indigenous”), from αὐτός (autós, “self”) + χθών (khthṓn, “earth, soil”).

autochthonous

Origin

Literally, “native to the soil”; from autochthon + -ous.

autoclave

Origin

Borrowed from French autoclave, formed with prefix auto- + Latin clavis (“key”).

autocracy

Greek

From Greek autokrateia 'absolute rule', from autos 'self' and kratos 'power, rule'.

autocratic

Origin

From autocrat + -ic, equivalent to auto- + -cratic.

autocue

Origin

From auto- + cue, originally a trademark.

autograph

Greek

From Greek autógraphon ("a writing in one's own hand"), from auto- ("self") plus gráphō ("write").

autohomicide

Origin

From auto + homicide.

autoimmune

Origin

From auto- ("self") plus immune, describing the immune system turning against the body itself.

Autolycus

Greek

From Greek Autólukos, a figure in Greek mythology known for trickery and theft.

automat

Origin

Borrowed from German Automat, as the system was originally developed in Germany in the late 19th c. Doublet of automaton.

automatic

New Latin

From Greek autómatos ("self-moving, acting of its own accord"), via Latin automatum and New Latin automaticus.

automatically

Greek

From automatic plus the adverb ending -ally; "automatic" traces back to Greek autómatos, "acting of one's own will."

automation

Origin · 1940

Built from automatic plus -ion; the word is credited to Ford executive Delmar S. Harder, who coined it in the 1940s to describe self-operating factory machinery.

automatize

Origin

From French automatiser, from automate (“automaton”). Equivalent to automate + -ize.

automaton

Greek

From Greek autómaton, "acting of its own accord" — the neuter form of autómatos, self-moving.

automobile

Latin

From French automobile, joining Greek autós ("self") with French mobile ("moving"), itself from Latin mobilis.

automobilist

Origin

Borrowed from French automobiliste. By surface analysis, automobile + -ist.

automotive

Latin

Formed from auto- ("self") plus motive ("causing movement"), from Latin motivus.

autonoesis

Origin

From auto- + noesis, introduced by Endel Tulving.

autonoetic

Origin

From auto- + noetic.

autonomous

Greek

From Greek autónomos, "living under one's own laws," from autós ("self") and nomos ("law").