The story
Coined in 1972 by Chilean biologists Humberto Maturana and Francisco Varela, from auto- + -poiesis. (see also Ancient Greek αὐτόποιος (autópoios, “self-produced”)).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.
autopoiesis
Today it means: Self-creation; self-organization. Full definition →