clone

Etymology

It is from Ancient Greek κλών (klṓn, “twig, slip”),^{[2][3][4][5][6]} in a Latinized form, according to Etymonline;^[3] the word was first used in botany in 1903.^[2][7][8] The OED derives the Greek word from κλᾶν (klân, “to break”) with a noun suffix,^[2] and Merriam-Webster and Barnhart likewise relate it to that verb.^[9][8] Beekes rejects this, since a sprout can hardly be called "broken", and follows Kuiper in connecting it with κλάδος (kládos, “branch”);^[10] Etymonline also relates it to the latter and, possibly, to Proto-Indo-European *kel- (“to strike, cut”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

In botany, a group of plants descended from one original by vegetative propagation, such as cuttings or grafts: 1903, in an article by H. J. Webber in Science.^[2][7][3]

Semantic evolution

The botanical term was extended to groups of genetically identical bacterial or other cells in 1929,^[2][8] and the verb, to propagate as a clone, is recorded from 1930 in the OED,^[2] about 1948 in Merriam-Webster^[9] and 1959 in Barnhart and Etymonline.^[8][3] In 1970 Alvin Toffler's Future Shock used it for artificially produced identical people,^[2] and Etymonline dates the extension to the genetic duplication of animals and humans to the same year.^[3] In molecular biology the verb has meant to make copies of a gene or DNA sequence since 1974.^[2] From 1977 a clone was also a person who slavishly imitates another,^[2][11] and a thing made in imitation of another, especially a cheaper computer that copies a more expensive one;^[2][7] Barnhart dates the figurative sense "exact duplicate" to about 1978.^[8] In the late 1970s it was also slang for a gay man with a stereotypically macho appearance and dress, now chiefly historical.^[2][7] An animal developed asexually and genetically identical to its parent is recorded from 1982,^[2] and in the same year the verb was first used of copying the identifying data of a mobile phone or card, usually for fraud.^[2]

Timeline

• 1903 – botany: a group of plants propagated from one original.^[2][3]
• 1929 – biology: a group of identical cells from one ancestor.^[2][8]
• 1930 – verb, to propagate as a clone.^[2]
• 1970 – science fiction: an artificially produced identical person.^[2][3]
• 1974 – verb, to copy a DNA sequence; to replicate anything.^[2]
• 1977 – a slavish imitator; an imitation, especially of a computer.^[2][11]
• 1978 – slang: a gay man of macho appearance.^[2]
• 1982 – an animal genetically identical to its parent; verb, to copy a phone's identifying data.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A group of genetically identical cells or organisms descended from a single ancestor by asexual reproduction.^[9][12][2]
2. An individual organism grown from a single body cell and genetically identical to its source.^[9][2]
3. A segment of DNA copied in the laboratory, or a set of such copies.^[12][9][2]
4. A person or thing that closely copies or imitates another: The new phone is a cheap clone of last year's model.^[2][11]
5. (historical, slang) A gay man with a stereotypically macho style of dress and appearance.^[2][7]

Verb

1. To propagate an organism or cell as a clone.^[9][2]
2. To make an exact copy of something: The researchers cloned the gene in bacteria.^[9][2]
3. To copy the identifying electronic data of a phone or card to another, usually for fraud.^[2]

Word family

• clonal
• clonally
• cloner

Related words

• clastic

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 29 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
5. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c d e Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
9. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
10. ^ Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010), Etymological Dictionary of Greek, with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 10, Leiden; Boston: Brill
11. ^ a b c Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
12. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins