Autonomy

How to spell autonomy

8 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce autonomy

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does autonomy mean?

1. nounThe right or condition of governing oneself or acting independently, free from outside control.

Autonomy in a sentence

• The region was granted greater autonomy over its own budget and schools.

• Remote workers value the autonomy that comes with setting their own hours.

Where does autonomy come from?

Language of origin: Greek

Autonomy comes from the Greek autonomia, which meant the condition of living under one's own laws. It was built from autos, meaning 'self', and nomos, meaning 'law' or 'rule', so the literal idea was 'self-law'. In ancient Greece the word described a city or state that governed itself rather than answering to an outside power, and that political sense is the oldest one. English took it up in the early 1600s, at first for the self-government of states and later, by extension, for the personal independence of an individual making their own decisions. The same nomos root that gives the word its spelling also sits inside astronomy and economy, which is a handy reminder that autonomy ends in the same '-nomy' pattern rather than a stray '-namy' or '-nomey'.

How the word is built

• auto- (self)
• nom (from nomos: law, rule)
• -y (noun suffix)