'autocarpous' originates from Greek, specifically the word 'autokarpous', where 'auto-' meant 'self' and 'karpos' meant 'fruit'.

'autokarpous' passed into New/Modern Latin and botanical Latin as 'autocarpus/autocarpous' and was adopted into English botanical usage as 'autocarpous'.

Initially literally 'self-fruited' (fruit of a single carpel), the term has come to be used in botany to describe flowers whose carpels are free (not fused) and often develop as separate fruits.