How to pronounce autotomy
American English pronunciation
aw-TOT-uh-mee
- IPA
- /ɔˈtɑtəmi/
- Syllables
- aw · TOT · uh · mee (4 syllables, stress on the 2nd)
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What autotomy means
An animal's dropping a body part to escape a threat
In a sentence: A lizard can use autotomy, leaving its wriggling tail behind to distract a hungry cat.
Where it comes from: It is auto-, meaning self, plus -tomy, meaning cutting. It came into English after the German word Autotomie and the French word autotomie.
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