Etymologically
Log in

copy

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 15 October 2026 at 19:30. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • IPA: UK /ˈkɒp.i/, US /ˈkɑː.pi/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English copie,[2][3] borrowed from Old French copie,[4][2] from Medieval Latin copia (“reproduction, transcript”),[4][2] from Latin cōpia (“plenty, abundance; ability, opportunity”),[4][2][5] from com- (“with”) and ops (“power, wealth”),[4] from Proto-Indo-European *op- (“to work, produce in abundance”).[4] The sense “transcript” arose in Medieval Latin phrases such as copiam describendi facere “to give permission to transcribe”, whence “right of reproduction” and then simply “reproduction”.[5][2][6] The verb is from Old French copier and Medieval Latin copiāre “to transcribe”.[4][3] It is related to copious.[2][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

A transcript of a writing: about 1330 in the OED,[7] before 1338 in Mannyng's Chronicle in Barnhart (as “a written record”),[2] and the mid-14th century in Etymonline.[4]

Semantic evolution

The Latin sense “abundance” was also used in English from about 1375 to the 17th century,[7][5] and Trench explains that the only way to obtain abundance of a document was to take copies of it.[8] Any reproduction or imitation is from the late 14th century,[4] and a picture reproducing another from 1580.[7] In the 15th century the word extended to any specimen of writing, especially a manuscript given to a printer to set in type, as in Caxton.[4] One of a set of printed reproductions is from the 1530s.[4] The verb, “to transcribe”, is from 1387,[7] “to imitate” from the 1640s,[4] of computer data by 1953,[4] and “to send a copy to a third party” from 1983.[4][7] Copy-editor is from 1889, and copyright from the 18th century.[4][5]

Timeline

  • c. 1330 – a transcript.[7]
  • c. 1375 – abundance (obsolete).[7]
  • 1387 – verb, to transcribe.[7]
  • late 15th century – text for the printer.[4]
  • 1530s – one of a set of copies.[4]
  • 1640s – verb, to imitate.[4]
  • 1889 – copy-editor.[4]
  • 1953 – of computer data.[4]
  • 1983 – to copy someone in.[4][7]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A reproduction or imitation of an original; a duplicate.
  2. One example of a book, newspaper or other printed work.
  3. Text prepared for printing; the words of an advertisement.
  4. Material suitable for a newspaper story.

Verb

  1. To make a copy of.
  2. To follow as a model; to imitate.
  3. To send a copy of a message to.

Word family

  • copyable
  • copybook
  • copygirl
  • copyholder
  • copyist
  • copyright
  • miscopy

References

  1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ a b c d e Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ Trench, Richard Chenevix (1859), A Select Glossary of English Words Used Formerly in Senses Different from Their Present, London: John W. Parker