replica

Etymology

It is borrowed from Italian replica (“repetition; copy”),^{[2][3][4][5][6]} from replicare (“to repeat; to reply”),^[3][4][6][7] inherited from Latin replicō (“to fold back; to repeat”), in Late Latin also to reply,^[4][5][8] from re- (“back, again”) and plicō (“to fold”), from Proto-Indo-European *plek- (“to plait”).^[4] In Italian the noun meant the repetition of a word or musical phrase from before 1555, and a copy of a work of art from before 1810.^[2] The musical sense also comes partly from the Italian direction si replica (“it is repeated”).^[2] The OED compares Medieval Latin replica (“reply”), French réplique and Spanish réplica.^[2] The English verb reply goes back to the same Late Latin verb through French.^[4][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

A reply: about 1552, in Thomas Camel's broadside against Churchyard, a sense obsolete after 1617.^[2]

Semantic evolution

In the 18th century replica was a musical direction to repeat a passage, recorded from 1724 in the OED;^[2] the Oxford Dictionary of English dates it to the mid 18th century.^[9] The art sense, a copy of a work of art, especially one made by the original artist, dates from 1824, in Lady Morgan's life of Salvator Rosa;^[2][3][4][5] Etymonline notes that such a duplicate was properly regarded as an original rather than a copy.^[4] The general sense, any reproduction or facsimile, especially a smaller model, is recorded from 1841 in the OED^[2] and by 1865 in Etymonline.^[4]

Timeline

• c. 1552 – a reply (obsolete by 1617).^[2]
• 1724 – music, a repeat.^[2]
• 1824 – a copy of a work of art, especially by the original artist.^[2][3][5]
• 1841 – any reproduction, facsimile or model.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. An exact copy or reproduction of something, especially a smaller one: a replica of the Eiffel Tower on the mantelpiece.^[10][5][2]
2. A copy of a work of art, especially one made by the original artist or under the artist's direction.^[5][2]
3. In music, a repeat.^[2][11]

Related words

• replicate
• replication
• reply
• replicant
• ply
• complicate

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 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 Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
8. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
9. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
11. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press