Etymology

autolysis

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Today it means: The destruction of an organism's cells by enzymes produced by the organism itself. Full definition →

Ancient Greek λῠ́σῐς (lŭ́sĭs) ← English auto- ← Proto-Indo-European *h₂ew
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The story

  1. Proto-Hellenic*autós
  2. Proto-Indo-European*h₂ew
  3. Ancient Greekαὖ (aû)
  4. Ancient Greekτόν (tón)
  5. Ancient Greekαὐτός (autós)
  6. Ancient Greekαὐτο- (auto-)
  7. Englishauto-
  8. Ancient Greekλῠ́σῐς (lŭ́sĭs)
  9. English todayautolysis

From auto- (“self”) + -lysis (“breakdown”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.