autobiography

The word “autobiography” means an account of a person's life written by that person. In plain terms, the story of someone's life, written by themselves.

“Autobiography” is pronounced aw-tuh-beye-OG-ruh-fee (/ˌɔː.tə.baɪˈɒɡ.ɹə.fi/ in IPA).

Here is “autobiography” used in a sentence: “The footballer's autobiography became a bestseller within days.”

Words with a similar meaning to “autobiography” include memoir and life story.

The opposite of “autobiography” — its antonyms — is heterobiography.

“Autobiography” is a noun.

The word “autobiography” comes from Greek. From auto- ("self") plus biography, from Greek bíos ("life") and gráphō ("write").

“Autobiography” is an uncommon word in modern English.

An autobiography is an account of a person's life written by that person, told from their own perspective. A biography is written by someone else about another person's life, typically based on research and interviews. The key difference is authorship: an autobiography always comes from the subject themselves.

An autobiography usually covers a person's entire life from birth to the present in roughly chronological order. A memoir tends to focus on a specific period, theme, or set of experiences rather than the whole life story. Both are self-written, but a memoir is narrower in scope.

An autobiography is defined as an account written by the subject, so books produced with substantial outside help are sometimes labeled 'as told to' rather than pure autobiographies. In practice, many books marketed as autobiographies involve a ghostwriter or collaborator to some degree. The label is applied loosely even when strict self-authorship is debatable.