Etymologically
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replicate

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Pronunciation

  • UK: /ˈɹɛplɪkeɪt/, /ˈɹɛpləkət/[1]
  • US: /ˈɹɛpləˌkeɪt/, /ˈɹɛpləkət/[1]

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

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