'autotimer' originates from Modern English, specifically the compound 'auto-' + 'timer', where 'auto-' meant 'self' (from Greek 'autos') and 'timer' meant 'a device that measures or controls time.'

'auto-' comes from Greek 'autos' meaning 'self'; 'timer' is formed from English 'time' (Old English 'tima') with the agentive suffix '-er', producing 'timer' as 'one or something that measures or controls time'. The compound 'autotimer' is a recent formation from 20th-century English technical usage.

Initially formed to mean 'a self-operating timing device,' it has come to be used broadly for both hardware features and software functions that automatically schedule or trigger timed actions.