Standard Lemma guide

autological

adj · 1 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˌɔː.təʊˈlɒ.dʒɪ.kəl/
  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˌɔː.təˈlɒ.dʒɪ.kəl/
  • US: /ˌɑːtoʊˈlɑːd͡ʒɪkəl/
  • US: /ˌɑːtəˈlɑːd͡ʒɪkəl/
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • Australia: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.

1

adj

Meaning 1

Possessing the property it describes.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: not-comparable, phrase

Qualifier: or especially an adjective

Topics: grammar, human-sciences, linguistics, sciences

Examples

  • The word polysyllabic is autological, but the word monosyllabic is not.
  • Because the word short is in fact short, it is considered autological.
  • The word noun is itself a noun, and is thus autological.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

From German autologisch, from Ancient Greek αὐτός (autós, “self”) + λόγος (lógos, “word”), by surface analysis, autology + -ical.

Across languages

Translations

13 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Chinese Mandarin: 自逻辑的 — of a phrase, describing itself
  • Chinese Mandarin: 自同的 — of a phrase, describing itself
  • Chinese Mandarin: 自体同源的 — of a phrase, describing itself
  • Chinese Mandarin: 自描述的 — of a phrase, describing itself
  • French: autologique — of a phrase, describing itself
  • German: autologisch — of a phrase, describing itself
  • Hungarian: autologikus — of a phrase, describing itself
  • Hungarian: önleíró — of a phrase, describing itself
  • Italian: autologico — of a phrase, describing itself
  • Polish: autologiczny — of a phrase, describing itself
  • Portuguese: autológico — of a phrase, describing itself
  • Spanish: autológico — of a phrase, describing itself
  • Swedish: autologisk — of a phrase, describing itself