'autoradiographic' originates from English formation of 'autoradiography' + adjectival suffix '-ic'. 'autoradiography' itself combines 'auto-' (from Greek 'autos', meaning 'self'), 'radio-' (from Latin 'radius' via New Latin, relating to 'radiation' or 'rays'), and '-graphy' (from Greek 'graphia', meaning 'writing' or 'recording').

'autoradiography' was coined in the early 20th century to name a laboratory technique for recording the pattern of radioactive emissions on photographic film; 'autoradiographic' developed as the adjective describing objects or images produced by that technique.

Initially it named a specific laboratory technique and its resulting image; its adjectival form has come to describe anything relating to or produced by that technique (e.g., 'autoradiographic image', 'autoradiographic analysis').