'autocoder' originates from modern English, specifically the compound of 'auto' and 'coder', where 'auto-' meant 'self' (from Greek 'autós') and 'coder' derived from 'code' + agent suffix '-er' meaning 'one who encodes or writes code'.

'auto-' comes from Greek 'autós' meaning 'self'; 'code' traces to Latin 'codex' meaning 'book' (later extended to 'system of symbols' and 'rules'); the agentive suffix '-er' produced 'coder'. The compound 'autocoder' developed in the late 20th to early 21st century with the rise of automated programming tools and code-generation systems.

Initially, the components meant 'self' and 'one who writes or deals with code', but over time 'autocoder' has come to mean specifically a tool or system that automatically generates source code from higher-level descriptions.