Etymology

autophosphatase

A1U1T1O1P3H4O1S1P3H4A1T1A1S1E1

Today it means: A phosphatase that dephosphorylates itself Full definition →

English phosphatase ← Ancient Greek αὐτο- (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. Englishphosphatase
  9. English todayautophosphatase

From auto- + phosphatase.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.