'autoradiography' originates from a modern formation combining the prefix 'auto-' from Greek 'autos' meaning 'self', the element 'radio-' ultimately from Latin 'radius' meaning 'ray' (used for radiation), and the suffix '-graphy' from Greek 'graphia' meaning 'writing' or 'recording'.

'autoradiography' developed in the early 20th century as a compound based on 'radiography' (recording using rays) with the prefix 'auto-' to indicate that the image is produced by emissions from the specimen itself; over time it became the established technical term 'autoradiography'.

Initially it referred specifically to photographic recordings made from radioactive emissions of a specimen; the core meaning has remained stable and still denotes techniques that record the distribution of radioactivity.