mimicry

Etymology

It is formed from English mimic + -ry,^{[2][3][4][5][6]} from the noun according to the OED and the Shorter Oxford,^[2][5] from the adjective according to Etymonline.^[7] The base, recorded from the 1580s, is from Latin mīmicus (“characteristic of a mime; sham”),^[2][7] from Ancient Greek μιμικός (mimikós, “of or pertaining to mimes”),^[2][7] from μῖμος (mîmos, “mime”) and the suffix -ικός (-ikós).^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The action or art of copying or closely imitating, in early use also of reproducing something through mime: 1671, in the preface to E. Howard's Six Days Adventure.^[2] Merriam-Webster Unabridged gives the same year,^[3] while Etymonline dates the word to the 1680s.^[7]

Semantic evolution

From 1688 the word also meant a single act of imitating, or a copy,^[2] and the phrase in mimicry of, in imitation of, is recorded from 1814, in Southey.^[2] The biological sense, an animal's or plant's close resemblance to another organism or to an object, is first quoted by the OED from Kirby and Spence's Introduction to Entomology (1816);^[2] Etymonline dates this zoological sense to 1861.^[7] Merriam-Webster Unabridged explains it as a resemblance that gives the organism concealment or protection,^[3] and the Oxford Dictionary of English names Batesian mimicry as one type.^[8]

Timeline

• 1671 – the action or art of imitating, also through mime.^[2][3]
• 1688 – an act of imitating; a copy.^[2]
• 1814 – in mimicry of, in imitation of.^[2]
• 1816 – in biology, the resemblance of one organism to another or to an object.^[2] Etymonline dates this sense to 1861.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. The action, practice or skill of imitating someone or something closely, often to amuse or to mock: Her mimicry of the headmaster made the whole class laugh.^[9][3][8]
2. An act or instance of imitating.^[3][2]
3. (biology) The close outward resemblance of an animal or plant to another organism or to an object around it, which protects it from predators or gives it some other advantage.^[9][3][2]

Word family

• Batesian mimicry

Related words

• mimic
• mime
• mimesis
• pantomime

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 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
5. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ Gove, Philip Babcock, ed. (1961), Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam
7. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins