Meaning
The spontaneous removal of a limb, tail etc, especially by some invertebrates as a self-defense mechanism.
Etymology
Origin: French
From auto- + -tomy, after German Autotomie or French autotomie.
NYT Puzzle Appearances
No published puzzle dates on file for this word yet. It is part of the official NYT Spelling Bee word list for 2022, 2023, 2024.