autotroph

See also: Autotroph

English

Etymology

auto- (from Ancient Greek αὐτο- (auto-, “self-”)) +‎ -troph (from Ancient Greek τροφή (trophḗ, “nourishment”))

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈɔːtə(ʊ)tɹəʊf/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈɔɾəˌtɹoʊf/

Noun

autotroph (plural autotrophs)

1. (ecology) Any organism that can synthesize its food from inorganic substances, using heat or light as a source of energy.
   • 2013 March, Harold J. Morowitz, “The Smallest Cell”, in American Scientist‎^[1], volume 101, number 2, archived from the original on 4 January 2017, page 83:

     It is likely that the long evolutionary trajectory of Mycoplasma went from a reductive autotroph to oxidative heterotroph to a cell-wall–defective degenerate parasite. This evolutionary trajectory assumes the simplicity to complexity route of biogenesis, a point of view that is not universally accepted.

Synonyms

• producer (biology)

Coordinate terms

• heterotroph

Derived terms

• autotrophic
• autotrophically
• autotrophy
• chemoautotroph
• lithoautotroph
• photoautotroph
• photolithoautotroph
• picoautotroph
• thioautotroph

 

Translations

organism that can synthesize its food

• Catalan: autòtrof (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: (Taiwan) 自營生物／自营生物 (zìyíng shēngwù), (Mainland China) 自養生物／自养生物 (zìyǎng shēngwù)

• Dutch: autotroof m
• Finnish: tuottaja (fi), autotrofi (fi)
• French: autotrophe (fr) m
• Indonesian: autotrof (id)
• Irish: uatrófach m
• Italian: autrofia, autotrofo (it) m
• Japanese: 独立栄養生物 (どくりつえいようせいぶつ, dokuritsu eiyō seibutsu)
• Kazakh: автотроф (avtotrof)
• Khmer: ស្វ័យជីព (svai jip)
• Korean: 독립영양생물(獨立營養生物) (dongnibyeong'yangsaengmul)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: berhemhêner

• Polish: autotrof (pl) m
• Portuguese: autótrofo (pt) m
• Spanish: autótrofo (es) m
• Vietnamese: sinh vật tự dưỡng (生物自養)

German

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Adjective

autotroph (strong nominative masculine singular autotropher, not comparable)

1. (biology) autotrophic

Declension

Positive forms of autotroph (uncomparable)

number & gender		singular			plural
		masculine	feminine	neuter
predicative		er ist autotroph	sie ist autotroph	es ist autotroph	sie sind autotroph
strong declension (without article)	nominative	autotropher	autotrophe	autotrophes	autotrophe
	genitive	autotrophen	autotropher	autotrophen	autotropher
	dative	autotrophem	autotropher	autotrophem	autotrophen
	accusative	autotrophen	autotrophe	autotrophes	autotrophe
weak declension (with definite article)	nominative	der autotrophe	die autotrophe	das autotrophe	die autotrophen
	genitive	des autotrophen	der autotrophen	des autotrophen	der autotrophen
	dative	dem autotrophen	der autotrophen	dem autotrophen	den autotrophen
	accusative	den autotrophen	die autotrophe	das autotrophe	die autotrophen
mixed declension (with indefinite article)	nominative	ein autotropher	eine autotrophe	ein autotrophes	(keine) autotrophen
	genitive	eines autotrophen	einer autotrophen	eines autotrophen	(keiner) autotrophen
	dative	einem autotrophen	einer autotrophen	einem autotrophen	(keinen) autotrophen
	accusative	einen autotrophen	eine autotrophe	ein autotrophes	(keine) autotrophen

Further reading

• “autotroph” in Duden online
• “autotroph” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache