'autoconvection' originates from Modern English compounding of the prefix 'auto-' (from Greek 'autos') and the noun 'convection' (from Latin roots), where 'auto-' meant 'self' and 'convection' came from Latin elements meaning 'to carry together'.

'convection' comes from Latin 'convectionem' (from 'convehere', 'con-' meaning 'together' + 'vehere' meaning 'to carry'), passed into Old French and Middle English as 'convection', and in Modern English combined with the Greek-derived prefix 'auto-' to form the technical compound 'autoconvection' in 20th-century scientific usage.

Initially, 'convection' referred broadly to 'the act of carrying together' (physical transport); over time it specialized to mean the transfer of heat or mass by bulk fluid motion. 'Autoconvection' was coined to denote convection produced by internal/self-generated causes and retains that specialized technical sense.