Etymology

autopsy

au·top·sy
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Today it means: A dissection performed on a cadaver to find possible cause(s) of death. Full definition →

New Latin autopsia ← Ancient Greek αὐτοψῐ́ᾱ
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The story

  1. Ancient Greek · derived fromαὐτοψῐ́ᾱ“seeing with one's own eyes”
  2. New Latin · derived fromautopsia
  3. English todayautopsy

From New Latin autopsia, from Ancient Greek αὐτοψῐ́ᾱ (autopsĭ́ā, “seeing with one's own eyes”). By surface analysis, auto- + -opsy.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.