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words I like, and where they came from. every word is a compressed history — unpack the roots and the meaning falls out.

autodidact

/ˌɔːtəʊˈdɪdækt/noun
definition

A self-taught person; someone who has learned a subject without the benefit of a teacher or formal education.

etymology

From Greek autodidaktos, "self-taught" — autos ("self") joined to didaktos ("taught"), the verbal adjective of didaskein ("to teach"). It travelled into English via Latin autodidactus, arriving in the mid-1700s.

auto
self
Greek autos
+
didact
taught
Greek didaktos
autodidact
first attested: mid-18th century
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