English 'autopsy' comes from Greek 'autopsia' (seeing for oneself), combining 'autos' (self) + 'opsis' (sight) — originally meaning any direct personal observation, the word shifted to name the ultimate act of direct investigation: examining a body to see for oneself why a person died.
A post-mortem examination to discover the cause of death or the extent of disease.
From Greek 'autopsia' (αὐτοψία, the act of seeing for oneself), a compound of 'autos' (αὐτός, self) + 'opsis' (ὄψις, sight, vision, appearance), from PIE *okʷ- (to see, eye). The word originally had nothing to do with medicine or death — it simply meant direct personal observation as opposed to relying on hearsay. The medical sense emerged because post-mortem examination is the ultimate form of direct evidence: seeing for oneself what caused
An 'autopsy' is etymologically a personal eyewitness account — 'auto' (self) + 'opsis' (sight). In ancient Greek it meant seeing something with your own eyes rather than trusting someone else's report. The medical sense emerged because a post-mortem is the ultimate firsthand investigation: only by looking inside the body can a physician know, for certain, what killed the patient.