autological

English

WOTD – 27 January 2008

From German autologisch, from Ancient Greek αὐτός (autós, “self”) + λόγος (lógos, “word”).

autological (not comparable)

(grammar) Of a phrase (especially an adjective), possessing the property it describes.
The word polysyllabic is autological, but the word monosyllabic is not.
Because the word short is in fact short, it is considered autological.
The word noun is itself a noun, and is thus autological.

of a phrase, describing itself