auto-, aut-

(Greek: self, same, spontaneous; directed from within)

autotopagnosia, body-image agnosia
1. The inability to recognize or correctly orient the parts of one's own body.
2. The inability to localize and name the parts of one's own body; finger agnosia would be autotopagnosia restricted to the fingers.
3. A disorder of the body image, because of a lesion of the parietal cortex in the nondominant hemisphere or organic brain damage, characterized by an inability to relate the parts of one's own body to extrapersonal space often with the consequent loss of topographical orientation.

Sometimes the affected individual is also unable to identify and interrelate to the parts of the body of another individual or even with a model.

autotoxemia
Poisoning by harmful substances generated within the body itself.
autotoxic
A poison that acts on the organism in which it is generated.
autotoxic pruritus
Pruritus attributed to endogenous toxins, as in jaundice, uremia, etc.
autotoxicosis, autotoxemia, autotoxis
The same thing as autointoxication or poisoning by harmful substances generated within the body itself.
autotoxin
Any harmful substance generated within the body; self poisonous.
autotransfusion (s) (noun), autotransfusions (pl); autohemotransfusion (s), autohemotransfusions (pl); autoreinfusion (s), autoreinfusions (pl)
Withdrawal of and re-injection or transfer of a patient's own blood: "Autotransfusion, autohemotransfusion, and autoreinfusion all have the same meaning of being an infusion of a patient's own blood, which has either been collected and returned to the body during a surgery or transfused from a stored supply of blood."
autotroph (s) (noun), autotrophs (pl)
1. An organism capable of synthesizing its own food from inorganic substances, using light or chemical energy: "Green plants, algae, and certain bacteria are autotrophs."
2. Any organism capable of self-nourishment by using inorganic materials as a source of nutrients and using photosynthesis or chemosynthesis as a source of energy, as most plants and certain kinds of bacteria: "An autotroph is an organism that produces organic compounds from carbon dioxide as a carbon source, using either light or reactions of inorganic chemical compounds as a source of energy."

"Autotrophs are a vital part of the world's food chain because they take energy from the sun or from inorganic sources and convert them into a form (organic molecules) that they use to carry out biological functions including cell growth, and which other organisms (called heterotrophs) utilize as food."

"Carnivorous animals ultimately rely on autotrophs because the energy and organic building blocks obtained from their prey comes from autotrophs which were eaten by the prey."

—Compiled from information located in
Botany: An Introduction to Plant Biology by James D. Mauseth;
Jones and Bartlett Publishers; Sudbury, Massachusetts; 2008; page 252.
autotrophic (adjective)
1. Capable of synthesizing complex organic substances from simple inorganic substrates; including both the chemoautotrophic and the photoautotrophic organisms.
2. A reference to any organism for which environmental carbon dioxide is the only or main source of carbon in the synthesis of organic compounds by photosynthesis.
autotrophic lake (s) (noun), autotrophic lakes (pl)
A lake in which all or most of the organic matter present is derived from within the lake and not from drainage off the surrounding land.
autotrophically (adverb)
1. Of or relating to organisms; such as, green plants that can make complex organic nutritive compounds from simple inorganic sources by photosynthesis.
2. Needing only carbon dioxide or carbonates as a source of carbon and a simple inorganic nitrogen compound for metabolic synthesis>
3. Not requiring a specified exogenous factor for normal metabolism.
4. Self-nourishing; the ability of an organism to produce food from inorganic compounds.
autotrophy (s) (noun), autotrophies (pl)
A situation when self-sustaining organisms (green plants, algae, and certain bacteria) are able to produce food from inorganic compounds:
  • Carbon autotrophy, ability to assimilate carbon dioxide from the air.
  • Nitrogen autotrophy, ability to assimilate nitrate or to do nitrogen fixation.
  • Sulfur autotrophy, ability to assimilate sulfate.
autotropic (adjective), more autotropic, most autotropic
In botany and biology, a reference to the tendency to grow in a straight line, regardless of external factors or influences.
autotropism (s) (noun), autotropisms (pl)
In botany, the tendency of a plant to grow in a straight line when it is unaffected by external factors or stimuli.
autovac
A vacuum mechanism in a motor-car for raising petrol (gasoline) to a higher tank so that it may flow by gravity to the carburetor (primarily a British term).

Inter-related cross references, directly or indirectly, involving word units dealing with "equal, identical, same, similar": emul-; equ-, equi-; homeo-; homo-; iso-; pari-; peer; rhomb-; syn-; tauto-.