Etymologically
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mimic

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Pronunciation

  • /ˈmɪm.ɪk/[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin mīmicus (“of mimes, farcical; sham; as a noun, a writer of mimes”),[2][3][4][5] from Ancient Greek μιμικός (mīmikós, “characteristic of a mime”),[2][3][6] from μῖμος (mîmos, “imitator, mime”), the source of mime.[2][6][3] Barnhart notes occasional later borrowing from French mimique, recorded as an adjective from 1585,[4][2] and thinks the English adjective may in some uses have developed from the noun.[4] The verb is formed from the noun by conversion,[2][3][7] and mimicry is formed from the noun with the suffix -ry.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

As a noun, a person who imitates: 1590, in Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, according to Barnhart.[4] The OED's first record is the adjective, "characteristic of a mime, histrionic", hence "hypocritical", in Spenser's Teares of the Muses (1591).[2]

Semantic evolution

The word first described the mime, a burlesque actor or jester, and his art (adjective 1591–1645, 1598–1620; noun from 1601);[2] from there it passed to anyone skilled at imitating the voice, manner or movements of others, often to ridicule them.[2][8] The adjective soon also meant "imitation, mock" (1625).[2] The verb, recorded from 1671 in the OED and Merriam-Webster,[2][8] is found in Dryden in 1687, of slavish copying;[4][2] by the 18th century things too could mimic others (1712).[2] From 1744 doctors used it of a disease whose symptoms resemble another's.[2] In 1861 H. W. Bates applied the verb to animals that resemble other species, and the noun had already been used in biology from 1855;[2] in North America mimic is also the name of butterflies that resemble other species (1899).[2] In pharmacology a drug is said to mimic another substance whose effect it reproduces (1962).[2]

Timeline

  • 1590 – noun, a mimic, in Shakespeare.[4]
  • 1591 – adjective, characteristic of a mime; hypocritical (obsolete).[2]
  • 1598 – adjective, being or resembling a mime or jester.[2][4][8]
  • 1601 – noun, a person skilled in imitating others.[2]
  • 1625 – adjective, imitation, mock.[2]
  • 1671 – verb, to imitate, especially for ridicule.[2][8]
  • 1687 – verb, to copy servilely, in Dryden.[2][4]
  • 1744 – of a disease, to show symptoms like those of another.[2]
  • 1855 – noun, in biology, an animal or plant showing mimicry.[2]
  • 1861 – verb, in biology, to resemble another species.[2]
  • 1962 – of a drug, to produce an effect like that of another substance.[2]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To imitate someone's voice, gestures or manner, especially to amuse or ridicule: The comedian mimicked the senator's slow drawl.[9][8][2]
  2. To copy closely or slavishly.[9][2][8]
  3. To resemble closely; in biology, to look like another species, which can protect from predators: harmless hoverflies that mimic bees.[9][2][8]
  4. (medicine) Of a disease, to show symptoms like those of another; of a drug, to produce an effect like that of another substance.[2]

Noun

  1. A person who is skilled at imitating others, especially for entertainment.[9][8][2]
  2. (biology) An animal or plant that shows mimicry.[9][8][2]
  3. A mime, a performer in mimes; obsolete in this sense in the OED.[8][2]

Adjective

  1. Of, relating to or using mimicry; imitative.[9][8][2]
  2. Imitation, mock: a mimic sea battle on the lake.[9][2]

Word family

  • mimicker
  • mimical
  • mime
  • mimicry

References

  1. ^ 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 30 31 32 33 34 35 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  5. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  7. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  9. ^ a b c d e f g Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins