replicate

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English replicaten (“to repeat”),^[2][3] borrowed from Latin replicātus, the past participle of replicō.^[4][2][3][5] In classical Latin the verb meant to fold or bend back, to unroll a book, and to turn over in one's mind; post-classical Latin added the senses "to reply" (3rd century) and "to repeat, recount again" (4th century).^[4] The American Heritage Dictionary and Merriam-Webster call the source Late Latin, because of these later senses.^[6][5] The verb is formed from re- (“back, again”) and plicō (“to fold”),^[4][3][6] from Proto-Indo-European *plek- (“to plait”).^[3][6] The same Latin verb gave repliquer (“to repeat, to reply”) (13th century in Old French), replicare and replicar.^[4] The adjective (1812) and the noun (1729) were later borrowed from the same participle.^[4][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

To repeat: in the early 15th-century translation of Guy de Chauliac's surgery, where replecated renders Latin replicauit.^[2][4][3]

Semantic evolution

The early sense, to repeat words or a sound, is now obsolete.^[4] From the late 16th century the verb also meant to answer or reply (1599, in Nashe, until 1842).^[4] The sense "to fold or turn back" is recorded from 1649 until 1881.^[4] The sense of making an exact copy is dated 1661 by the OED,^[4] but Etymonline takes it as a back-formation from replication in 1882;^[3] the Oxford Dictionary of English says the current senses date from the late 19th century.^[7] In science the verb came to mean repeating an experiment to obtain a consistent result (1917 in the OED, by 1923 in Etymonline),^[4][3] and in biology a living organism or its genetic material reproducing itself (1899), with the transitive sense of copying genetic material from 1956.^[4] Etymonline dates the genetic sense to 1957.^[3] The noun was a musical term for a tone one or more octaves from a given tone (1730),^[4][5] then a copy (1821) and a repetition of an experiment (1916).^[4] The adjective was first botanical, of a leaf folded back on itself (1812 in the OED and Merriam-Webster, 1832 in Etymonline).^[4][5][3]

Timeline

• c. 1425 – verb, to repeat (now obsolete), in a translation of Guy de Chauliac.^[2][4]
• 1599 – to answer, reply (obsolete by 1842).^[4]
• 1649 – to fold or turn back (obsolete by 1881).^[4]
• 1661 – to make an exact copy of.^[4]
• 1730 – noun, in music, a tone one or more octaves above or below another.^[4][5]
• 1812 – adjective, of a leaf, folded back on itself.^[4][5]
• 1821 – noun, a copy, a duplicate.^[4]
• 1899 – of an organism or its genetic material, to reproduce itself.^[4]
• 1916 – noun, a repetition of an experiment.^[4]
• 1917 – to repeat an experiment so as to get a consistent result.^[4]
• 1956 – to copy genetic material.^[4]

Meanings

Verb

1. To make an exact copy of; to duplicate or reproduce: The forger replicated the signature perfectly.^[8][5][4]
2. To repeat an experiment or study, especially so as to confirm its result.^[5][4][9]
3. Of a cell, a gene or DNA, to make a copy of itself.^[5][4]
4. To fold or bend back.^[8][5]
5. To answer or reply.^[8][5] The OED marks this sense obsolete, with records from 1599 to 1842.^[4]

Noun

1. A copy or replica; a duplicate.^[4][9]
2. An experiment or procedure that repeats another, or one of several similar parts of an experiment.^[5][4]
3. Something, such as a cell or a gene, produced by replication.^[5]
4. In music, a tone one or more octaves above or below a given tone.^[5][4]

Adjective

1. Folded back on itself, as a leaf.^[8][5][4]
2. Repeated, or being a repetition of an experiment: replicate samples.^[5][4]

Word family

• replicative
• nonreplicated
• self-replicating
• nonreplicate

Related words

• replica
• replication
• reply
• ply
• plicate

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
7. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
9. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press