'autotriploidy' originates from Greek and New Latin, specifically the prefix 'auto-' from Greek 'autos' meaning 'self' and 'triploid' from Greek 'triploos' (via New Latin 'triploides') meaning 'threefold'.

'triploid' entered scientific usage via New Latin 'triploides' (meaning 'threefold'), later forming the compound 'autotriploid' by adding the Greek-derived prefix 'auto-'; the noun-forming suffix '-y' produced the modern English 'autotriploidy'.

Initially it referred generally to a 'threefold' condition in a morphological or numerical sense; in modern biological usage it specifically denotes the genetic condition of having three sets of chromosomes derived from the same species.