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Glite Dictionary
autotomy

autotomy

1 9.9
A way animals drop a body part on purpose to escape a predator
  • noun
  • /ɔːˈtɒtəmi/
  • Specialized
: autotomía
  • The octopus has the ability of autotomy, allowing it to lose an arm when threatened.

Examples

  • During a stressful encounter, the starfish can undergo autotomy to detach a limb for its survival.

  • This species is prone to eviscerate, a behavior that results in autotomy of the internal organs and their expulsion through the anus.

    Academic text (1993)

  • Some lizards can perform autotomy by shedding their tails to escape from predators.

Surface Forms

autotomy singular
autotomies plural

Morphology

autotomy = auto + tom + y

The word is built from classical elements meaning 'self' and 'cut', but the technical biological sense is not transparently recoverable for an average learner.

Etymology

Autotomy comes from the Greek parts auto- 'self' and -tomy 'cutting'. It refers to when an animal on purpose drops a tail or leg to escape, so the word is literally like 'self-cutting' and that explains the modern meaning.