Etymologically
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reproduce

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 26 October 2026 at 03:23. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • UK: /ˌɹiː.pɹəˈdjuːs/, /ˌɹiː.pɹəˈd͡ʒuːs/[1]
  • US: /ˌɹi.pɹəˈdus/[1]

Etymology

It is formed from English re- + produce,[2][3][4][5][6][7] probably partly after French reproduire (“to produce again”), recorded from 1539.[2][4][8] Produce comes from Latin prōdūcō (“to lead or bring forth”), from prō (“forth”) and dūcō (“to lead”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

To present a person or thing again: 1584, in the records of the Burgh Court of Perth.[2] The OED revised its first date in 2009;[2] Barnhart, Etymonline and Merriam-Webster begin with Cotgrave's dictionary of 1611, where it means to bring into existence again, to create anew.[3][4][6][2]

Semantic evolution

The early senses were all of producing something again: an occurrence (1626), something immaterial (1666, in Boyle) or a substance by a chemical change (1666).[2] Johnson (1755) defined it simply as to produce again or anew.[9] The biological sense, of an organism producing offspring, is recorded from 1650 in the OED,[2] but Barnhart and Etymonline date it, as an intransitive verb, only to 1894.[3][4] The sense of copying developed from presenting again in print (1787) to copying a picture or work of art (1838),[2] which Barnhart and Etymonline date to 1850.[3][4] Sound recording added a further sense in 1872;[2] from 1886 a picture was said to reproduce well or badly when copied.[2]

Timeline

  • 1584 – to present a person or thing again.[2]
  • 1611 – to bring again into existence, to create anew.[2][3]
  • 1626 – to bring about an occurrence again.[2]
  • 1650 – of an organism, to produce offspring.[2]
  • 1666 – in chemistry, to produce a substance again.[2]
  • 1743 – to regenerate a lost limb.[2]
  • 1756 – to recreate in the mind.[2]
  • 1795 – to stage a play again.[2]
  • 1838 – to copy a picture or work of art.[2]
  • 1872 – to replay or relay sound.[2]
  • 1894 – intransitive, to generate offspring.[3][4]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To make a copy or likeness of something, as by printing, photography or recording: The postcard reproduces a painting by Turner.[10][6][2]
  2. Of an organism, to produce offspring by a sexual or asexual process.[10][6][2]
  3. To produce, do or bring about again; to repeat a result: Other laboratories failed to reproduce the experiment.[10][6][2]
  4. To bring back into existence; to re-create.[10][2]
  5. To bring a scene or event back to mind through the memory or the imagination.[10][2]
  6. Of printed material, to come out in a certain way when copied.[2][10]
  7. To regenerate a lost part of the body.[6][2]

Word family

  • reproducer
  • reproducibility
  • reproducible
  • reproducibly

References

  1. ^ a b 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 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  4. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  7. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  8. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  9. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  10. ^ a b c d e f Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins