'autorotate' originates from English, specifically the combination of the prefix 'auto' (from Greek 'autos') and the verb 'rotate' (from Latin 'rotare'), where 'autos' meant 'self' and 'rotare' meant 'to turn'.

'auto-' entered English from Greek via Latin/French in the 19th century as a productive prefix meaning 'self-'; 'rotate' comes from Latin 'rotare'; the compound 'autorotate' is a modern technical coinage formed in English in the 20th century by combining these elements.

Initially the elements meant 'self' and 'to turn'; combined they originally expressed 'to turn by itself' and over time the term has come to mean 'to rotate automatically' in general usage and, in aeronautics, to denote a specific unpowered rotor descent technique.