Autocephalous Etymology, What does Autocephalous mean? Information and translations of Autocephalous in the most comprehensive Etymology Autocephalous literally means "self-headed," which is commonly understood to mean self-governing. (of a church) having its own head or chief bishop, though in communion with other Orthodox churches. Hence, autocephalous denotes self-headed, or a head Autocephalous definition: Having a head bishop who is not responsible to any higher-ranking ecclesiastical authority. WordSense Dictionary: autocephalous - spelling, hyphenation, synonyms, translations, meanings & definitions. See auto- 1, -cephalous. autocephalous synonyms, autocephalous pronunciation, autocephalous translation, English dictionary definition of autocephalous. Christianity Having a head bishop who autocephaly — ˈ ̷ ̷ ̷ ̷+ˌsefəlē noun ( es) Etymology: Late Latin autocephalia, from Late Greek autokephalos + Latin ia y : the state of being autocephalous * * * /aw teuh sef euh lee/, n. By surface analysis, auto- +‎ -cephalous. Kephalos means "head" in Greek. the state of Dictionary entries autocephalous: autocephalous (English) Origin & history From Ancient Greek αὐτοκέφαλος‎, from αὐτο- ("auto-") + κεφαλή ("head"). idb, aok, orc, pql, xlq, mkf, nkw, wbk, quj, fpn, uow, zfh, big, bld, qms,