Etymologically
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clone

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 25 October 2026 at 23:43. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • UK: /kləʊn/[1]
  • US: /kloʊn/[1]

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
  • 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