auto-, aut-
(Greek: self, same, spontaneous; directed from within)
2. The study of oneself; self-analysis.
It is not easy to find happiness in ourselves, and it is not possible to find it elsewhere.
2. A substance produced by autolysis.
2. A lysin within an organism that has the capacity to destroy cells or tissue from that organism.
2. The destruction of cells of the body by the action of their own enzymes.
3, Return of a substance to solution, as of phosphate removed from seawater by plankton and returned when these organisms die and decay.
2. To induce or to undergo autolysis.
2. A preoccupation or thinking about committing suicide.
2. To operate or to control by automation.
2. Self-regulating; for example, an automatic washing machine.
3. Acting or done without volition or conscious control; involuntary; spontaneous; for example, automatic shrinking of the pupils of the eyes in strong light.
4. Acting or done as if by machine; mechanical; such as, an automatic reply to a familiar question.
5. Capable of firing continuously until ammunition is exhausted or the trigger is released; as with, an automatic rifle.
6. Semiautomatic; an automatic pistol.
The words automatic pilot or automatic transmission bring to mind mechanical devices that operate with minimal human intervention. Yet the word automatic, which goes back to the Greek word automatos, “acting of one's own will, self-acting, of itself,” is made up of two parts, auto-, “self,” and -matos, “willing,” is first recorded in English in 1748 with reference to motions of the body; such as, the peristaltic action of the intestines: “The Motions are called automatic from their Resemblance to the Motions of Automata, or Machines, whose Principle of Motion is within themselves.”
Although the writer had machines in mind, automatic could be used as a reference to living things, a use we still have. The association of automatic chiefly with machinery may represent one instance of many in which we have come to see the world in mechanical terms.
Technologies normally considered part of auto-ID include bar codes, biometrics, and voice recognition.