Another group of “auto-” terms is about forms of government.

An “autocracy” is the type in which “one person has absolute power.” This is also known as “dictatorship” or “despotism.”

More generally, “autocrat” can be applied to “any domineering, self-willed person.”

Here’s one that was new to me: the adjective “autocephalous.” The combining form “cephalo-” and its variations mean “the head, skull or brain,” but in this case it refers to the head of a church.

“Certain churches within the communion of the Eastern Orthodox Church,” says Webster’s, are called “autocephalous” — “self-governing; independent.”

And then there are “autarchy” and...

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