autology

Autology is the property of a word that describes itself. The term comes from Greek auto- meaning self and logos meaning word or study, and it is used in linguistics and philosophy of language to classify words according to whether their meaning reflects a property the word itself possesses.

A classic autological example is the word polysyllabic, which itself has multiple syllables. By contrast, a word that does not describe itself is called heterological; monosyllabic is often cited as heterological because the word itself is not monosyllabic. Some attributes can trigger debate, such as short or long, where the judgment depends on definitions of length or context. In many discussions, terms like “autological” and “heterological” are treated as meta-descriptions about the words rather than about external objects.

The autology–heterology distinction is frequently used to illustrate self-reference and semantic paradoxes. If the word heterological is autological, it would describe itself, which would render it autological; if it is not autological, it would fail to describe itself, creating a paradox. This line of thought is related to broader discussions of truth, reference, and self-reference in logic and philosophy, and it is commonly taught as a thought experiment rather than as a practical lexical classification.

In use, autology is primarily a theoretical tool in studies of semantics, language, and cognition. It helps scholars examine how words may encode their own properties and how speakers interpret self-descriptive terms. See also: heterological, liar paradox, self-reference.