Etymologically
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duplicate

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Pronunciation

  • /ˈd(j)uː.plɪ.kət/, /ˈd(j)uː.plɪˌkeɪt/[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin duplicātus (“doubled”), the past participle of duplicō (“to double”),[2][3][4][5][6] from duplex (“twofold”).[2][3][7][6][5] Etymonline analyses the verb as duo (“two”) and plicō (“to fold”), from Proto-Indo-European *dwo- (“two”) and *plek- (“to plait”).[4] Ayto connects it with Latin duplus (“twofold”), the source of double, built on duo and an Indo-European element meaning folding that is also present in fold and ply.[8] The verb is from the participial stem duplicāt-.[5][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Double, consisting of two corresponding parts: probably before 1425, in a translation of Higden's Polychronicon.[3][5][4]

Semantic evolution

The noun, one of two things exactly alike, was first used of a second copy of a letter or document with the force of the original (1532).[5][3][7] From 1701 it was used of any exact counterpart of an original.[5][4] The adjective in the sense "exactly corresponding to something else" is recorded only from 1812.[5][4][3] Johnson (1755) knew it in mathematics, where a duplicate ratio is the ratio of squares.[10][5] The verb first meant to make a second reply (1472, in Barnhart) and to double (1623, in Cockeram);[3][5] Etymonline dates "to repeat, produce a second" to the late 15th century.[4] The sense "to make an exact copy of" appears in 1860, in Emerson.[5][3] A pawnbroker's ticket was a duplicate in Dickens (1836), and duplicate whist (1891) and duplicate bridge (1929) are played by replaying the same hands with different players.[5]

Timeline

  • c. 1425 – adjective, double, consisting of two parts.[3][5]
  • 1472 – verb, to make a second reply.[3]
  • 1532 – noun, a second copy of a document.[5][3][7]
  • 1548 – adjective, doubled.[5]
  • 1623 – verb, to double.[5][3]
  • 1701 – noun, an exact counterpart.[5][4]
  • 1812 – adjective, exactly like an original.[5][4]
  • 1860 – verb, to make an exact copy of.[5][3]
  • 1891 – duplicate whist.[5]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Exactly like something else; copied from an original: a duplicate key.[11][7][5]
  2. Consisting of two matching parts, or existing in pairs; twofold.[11][7][5]
  3. Of bridge or whist, played so that the same hands are replayed by other players.[5]

Noun

  1. An exact copy: She kept a duplicate of the contract.[11][7][5]
  2. in duplicate: in two identical copies.[11][5]
  3. Something additional of the same kind; one of two things that exactly match each other.[11][7]

Verb

  1. To make an exact copy of: The clerk duplicated the form.[11][7][5]
  2. To do or make again; to repeat: The team could not duplicate last year's success.[11][5]
  3. To make double or twofold.[11][7][5]
  4. (biology) To divide into two identical parts, as chromosomes do.[11]

Word family

  • duplicable
  • duplicately
  • duplicative
  • duplication
  • duplicator
  • nonduplicating
  • photoduplicate

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ 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 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  8. ^ Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
  9. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  10. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  11. ^ a b c d e f g h i Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins