Autobiographical

Part of speech: adjective

Pronunciation: /ˌɑtoʊˌbaɪəˈɡɹæfəkəl/

Definitions

1. Involving a literary work that chronicles an individual's life experiences from their own viewpoint
2. Pertaining to a narrative that is composed by a person recounting their own life events
3. Connected with an account of life written by the subject themselves, focusing on personal experiences

Etymology: "Autobiographical" is a compound built from "auto-" (self) and "biographical" (relating to a written account of a life), with the adjective suffix "-ical" added to the older noun "autobiography." Its parts are straightforward: "auto-" comes from Greek "autos," meaning "self," and "biography" combines Greek "bios," life, with "graphia," writing. Put together, the word describes writing about one's own life. The base noun "autobiography" came first and is the older of the two forms in the pattern. The adjective followed naturally once the noun was in use, giving English speakers a way to describe qualities of a work, or of a passage within it, rather than the whole book itself. A memoir can be autobiographical in tone or content even when it is not presented as a complete life story.

Synonyms: self-referential, self-biographical, personal, memoiristic, narrative