'autosome' originates from Greek, specifically the elements 'autos' meaning 'self' and 'soma' meaning 'body', combined in scientific coinage (via New Latin) to form the term.

'autosome' was coined in modern scientific usage (New Latin/Neo-Latin) from the Greek components 'autos' and 'soma' and entered English as a technical biological term in the late 19th to early 20th century.

Initially the components literally meant 'self' + 'body'; over time the compound came to mean 'a body chromosome'—i.e., a chromosome of the organism not involved in sex determination.