What does "autotomy" mean?

The spontaneous removal of a limb, tail etc, especially by some invertebrates as a self-defense mechanism.

Autotomy

//ɔːˈtɒtəmi// noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Noun

1
The spontaneous removal of a limb, tail etc, especially by some invertebrates as a self-defense mechanism. countable, uncountable
"She has dropped it by autotomy, like the tail or claw of a fleeing lizard, lobster, or starfish."
2
spontaneous removal or casting off of a body part (as the tail of a lizard or claw of a lobster) especially when the organism is injured or under attack wordnet

"She has dropped it by autotomy, like the tail or claw of a fleeing lizard, lobster, or starfish."

From auto- + -tomy, after German Autotomie or French autotomie.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.