'autoclastic' originates from Greek, specifically the word 'autoklastos', where 'auto-' meant 'self' and 'klastos' meant 'broken'.

'autoclastic' changed from New Latin/Modern Latin formations such as 'autoclasticus' (constructed from Greek roots) and eventually became the modern English adjective 'autoclastic'.

Initially it literally meant 'self-broken'; over time it came to be used in geology and materials science to describe fragmentation produced within a mass (e.g., lava) by internal movement, rather than by external explosive forces.