'autochromy' originates from French, specifically the word 'autochromie', where 'auto-' meant 'self' and 'chroma' (from Greek) meant 'color'.

'autochromy' changed from the French word 'autochromie' and the English borrowing 'autochrome' (the trade name for the Lumière brothers' process) and eventually took the noun form 'autochromy' in English to refer to the process or its results.

Initially, it meant 'self-coloring' in the literal sense of 'color produced by itself', but over time it came to refer specifically to the Autochrome color-photography process or an image produced by that process.