autotelic
/ˈɔːtəˌtɛlɪk/
"autotelic" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“autotelic” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 9
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Containing its own meaning or purpose; deriving meaning and purpose from within.
Corpus desk
Index EN-autotelic · autotelic · English
autotelic · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-LONG 9 letters
- VOW-5 5 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "A" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | autotelic |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /ˈɔːtəˌtɛlɪk/ |
| Letters | 9 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “autotelic” in English
Rare enough to double-check
autotelic is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anadjective, transcribed /ˈɔːtəˌtɛlɪk/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.
No misspelling variants are generated for autotelic in our index, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Ancient Greek αὐτός (autós, “self”) + τέλος (télos, “result; end”); compare auto- and telic. From early 20th century. The correct English form is autotelic, spelled A-U-T-O-T-E-L-I-C.
Definition
- 1Containing its own meaning or purpose; deriving meaning and purpose from within.
- 2Of or pertaining to the quality of (a thing's) being autotelic.
- 3Not motivated by anything beyond itself; thematically self-contained.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how autotelic appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
1988, Antonella Della Fave, Fausto Massimini, 12: Modernization and the changing contexts in work and leisure, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Isabella Selega Csikszentmihalyi (editors), Optimal Experience: Psychological Studies of Flow in Consciousness, Cambridge University Press, 1992, Paperback, page 208, It is possible that these three people have jobs that…
Chess itself, however – the playing of the game – is most frequently engaged in, as we say, for its own sake, as an autotelic activity rather than as a teleological one. The majority of utterances of a language are teleological, aiming at informing […]
Etymology
From Ancient Greek αὐτός (autós, “self”) + τέλος (télos, “result; end”); compare auto- and telic. From early 20th century.
Antonyms
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.