'autocephalia' originates from Greek, specifically the word 'autoképhalia' (αὐτοκεφαλία), where 'auto-' meant 'self' and 'kephalē' meant 'head'.

'autocephalia' passed into Medieval and Ecclesiastical Latin as 'autocephalia' (a Latinized form from Greek) and English later adopted the related form 'autocephaly'; the Latin/Greek form 'autocephalia' is still used in some contexts.

Initially it meant 'self-headed' (literally 'having one’s own head'), but over time it came to mean 'ecclesiastical independence' — the condition of a church governing itself.